Archive for February, 2011
‘A Month in the Country’ by J. L. Carr
Although I’m usually pretty good about writing reviews for books shortly after I finish them, I’ve fallen rather behind recently and find myself faced with a stack of ten books which have been read but not yet reviewed. At the top of that pile is J. L. Carr’s short novella and it is reminding me [...]
‘Wolfwatching’ by Ted Hughes
If you were to ask me to name my favourite poet, I would have a very hard time naming just one, as I read different people for different things. I read Robert Browning for his amazing dramatic monologues; John Donne for his fiery passion, whether holy or secular; W. B. Yeats for his mysticism and [...]
‘The Crystal Prison’ by Robin Jarvis
I remember reading Robin Jarvis’ Deptford Histories Trilogy when I was younger and being utterly, deliciously terrified by them. They were books that I would only read with my back placed firmly against a wall so that I could be absolutely sure that nothing was sneaking up behind me waiting to grab me. I’ve never [...]
‘Dark Star Safari’ by Paul Theroux
When I started out at university, the people I met instantly divided themselves into two groups: those who started conversations with the immortal phrase, “On my gap year…” and those who didn’t. The gap year people had inevitably spent at a goodly proportion of this year out of education travelling in Africa/South America/Asia, had quite [...]
‘Try Anything Twice’ by Jan Struther
Jan Struther is best known as the author of the short novel, . However, during Virago Reading Week I posted about a fascinating notethat I had found taped inside a copy of Jan Struther’s which I acquired from a second hand book stall, and consequently I had to read this one first. I actually finished this [...]
TBR Lucky Dip: February
As I explained in my post about reading plans for the new year, each month I’m going to be using a random number generator to select a book from my TBR pile for me to read, to help me read more widely from my shelves. This month, the deities of www.random.org have ordained that I should [...]
‘We Had It So Good’ by Linda Grant
Needless to say, I was absolutely thrilled when I found out that Virago, my favourite publishers, had decided to launch a book club this year. For one reason or another I’m not particularly good at reading contemporary fiction, tending to stick to older books, and this seemed like a good way of broadening my horizons [...]
’84, Charing Cross Road’ and ‘The Duchess of Bloomsbury Street’ by Helene Hanff
I’m not sure why I’m so biased against non-fiction books, as I always seem to enjoy them whenever I can finally bring myself to read one. Whatever the reason, I don’t tend to pick one up unless I actively decide to do so, and so one of my bookish resolutions this year is to read [...]
‘Willow’ by Wayland Drew
Do you enjoy watching film adaptations of books you’ve read, or do you regard them with some suspicion and decide that you’d rather not, thank you very much? Every time a book that I enjoy is turned into a film, I have to debate with myself whether I want to go to see it or [...]
‘Primeval: Extinction Event’ by Dan Abnett
Recently, I’ve been enjoying an excess of Victorianism. I read The Prisoner of Zenda by Anthony Hope, a very unexpected Victorian novel, and then, purely by chance, I ended up simultaneously reading Lady’s Maid by Margaret Forster and The Crimson Petal and the Whiteby Michael Faber (which is still ongoing), both neo-Victorian novels. While these are [...]