literary hoohah
I’d had this on my reading list for a while, and when I decided to sack off TBR 20 (we all knew it was coming - more in another blog post to come) I went to Waterstones in Oxford, and this was one the three books I bought (three! Such a delight. Lots of points… Continue reading Witches: James I and the English Witch Hunts by Tracy Borman
Well this was an odd one. Purchased on a whim (something I do quite rarely these days) and never before heard about, I decided to take a chance with Hideous Creatures. And boy was it taking a chance. The premise is relatively simple: ‘youngest son of an illustrious line’ Arthur Hallingham flees from scandal in… Continue reading Hideous Creatures by S. E. Lister
I came across The Blue Tattoo by chance, when author Peggy Riley tweeted about it (so long ago that I'm afraid I can't find the original tweet). As soon as I heard about it I knew I wanted to read it. It was unlike anything I had ever read before, but it instantly appealed to… Continue reading The Blue Tattoo by Margot Mifflin (2009)
The Ladies of the House has had a lot of hype around it, and is a big new title for Picador (a publisher I've found to be reliably quite good). The cover alone intrigued me when I saw it shared over and over on Twitter, and I had to get in on the action and… Continue reading The Ladies of the House by Molly McGrann
I don't remember the impetus behind my finally buying a copy of Bonjour Tristesse, but I'm glad I did. Honestly it sat on my shelf for a long time - there are too many new books! - but deciding to do TBR20 made me pick it up again. I have a beautiful PMC edition whose… Continue reading Sweet Francoise
After finishing The Silent Woman I was at a loss as to what to read next and so I did what I usually do in that situation, which is to choose a few books that appeal and read the beginnings of each of them, read the blurbs over and over, and choose which one to commit… Continue reading “Never trust your secrets to a Raven, when you are not its true master…”
I was always ‘one of those people’ who had not read To Kill A Mockingbird, and people’s amazement and indignation at this did nothing but annoy me. It did not make me want to read the book, despite it looking like something I would really enjoy. It was only the recent announcement of the discovery… Continue reading To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee
Having only read Rebecca, My Cousin Rachel, and some short stories, I was eager to branch out into the less obvious novels of Daphne du Maurier. For years I have found her and her work fascinating, and always tell other people they should read her - and yet Julius is only the third novel of… Continue reading Julius by Daphne du Maurier
To me, at least, the psychology of reading for pleasure is interesting - why do we do it? What do we get out of it? Why is pleasurable? Why do we like what we like? Different people will have different answers to these questions. Generally I know what I like, and I can judge relatively… Continue reading In Praise Of: Reading Outside Your Comfort Zone
These days I can't help but worry that people won't always appreciate literature as they should - that everyone will have a Kindle and no one will have any books - that children will only want to read if it's on a screen - that people will forget the classics and anything that isn't new… Continue reading The Wild Girl by Kate Forsyth
These Little Words 