literary hoohah
There was buzz around this novel a long time before publication. I started seeing the #thisbeautiful hashtag on Twitter in I think May, a full five months before the publication date. Promotion seems to be starting earlier and earlier for books these days! As long as we keep it up and don't forget the books… Continue reading #thisbeautiful : Growing Up in the 1970s
I mentioned The Undertaker's Daughter in my post about 'simplifying women' in book titles. Kate Mayfield is more than just the daughter of an undertaker, of course; but the title is warranted here as this book covers the first part of her life, when she mostly lived at home, and when her father was an… Continue reading The Undertaker’s Daughter by Kate Mayfield
Sarah Waters' new novel, The Paying Guests, came out last week on 28th August, and of course it was amazing. I was very lucky to be sent an early copy, and also that I managed to nab a ticket to the event held last night (2nd Sept) in Oxford. Sarah Waters was in conversation with… Continue reading An Evening with Sarah Waters at the Bodleian
Well, well, well... hello again Sarah. We have all missed you. I don't remember when I first decided I loved Sarah Waters. We studied Affinity for a course about the modern novel at university, so maybe it was then. I've since read all of her novels except one, which I plan to read very soon, and though… Continue reading The Paying Guests by Sarah Waters
I must say that reading Man at the Helm was quite a departure for me. As my boyfriend and, I'm sure, my readers will testify, I usually read sad/serious books. Apparently someone always dies and/or cries. There's a fair bit of crying in Man at the Helm, and a small amount of death, but on… Continue reading Man at the Helm by Nina Stibbe
This post is part of the official blog tour for Hild. As a rule I like historical fiction, and when I think about it a lot of the historical fiction I've read has been set either in the early 20th century (including several things set during World War II), or only slight before that, i.e. the… Continue reading Adventures in the 7th Century: Hild by Nicola Griffith
This was supposed to be a Top Ten Tuesday post, but I haven't had the time recently to post on the correct day! So I thought I'd share this on a random day instead. I tried and failed to actually rank these in some kind of order (they all look amazing) so they have ended… Continue reading Top Ten Books On My TBR
Just a quick note to say that I am very pleased and excited to announce that I am taking part in the official blog tour for Hild by Nicola Griffith! It will be published by Blackfriars Books (an imprint of Little, Brown) on 24th July, and I will be posting about it on 6th August.… Continue reading The Official Blog Tour for Hild!
Already we have reached the sun of the year, the hot nights and outdoor lunchtimes that tell us it’s summer. Already it is July! We are about half way through 2014, and so it is a good time to look back at the year so far and assess what we’ve done, what we liked and… Continue reading Top 5 Books of 2014… So Far!
As a rule I think Peirene Press are pretty fantastic, and their output is always both unusual and interesting. Given that they only publish books that have never before been translated into English, to a degree this makes sense. All the stories are a little quirky and unconventional, which I like. But for me The Blue… Continue reading The Blue Room by Hanne Orstavik (tr. Deborah Dawkin)
These Little Words 