Archive for April, 2011
Review: ‘The Warden’ by Anthony Trollope
In a world where there are too many wonderful books to be read and too little time in which to do so, I always welcome recommendations of books that I might enjoy. One such book was The Warden by Anthony Trollope which was recommended to me by a friend who told me to read and [...]
Penguin Mini Modern Classics: Saki
Although I may have no resolve at all when faced with a second hand bookshop, usually I have a will of iron in the face of one selling new books which are far beyond my comfortable price range at the rate at which I consume them. However, all the reviews which popped up recently of [...]
‘A Flower Wedding’ by Walter Crane
Since the Old English Thorn and I finally became engaged the summer before last I have acquired a small stack of wedding themed books. Most of it is of the fun and frothy, pastel covered, predictably plotted variety (which I’m actually rather looking forward to reading), but I have picked up a few more unusual [...]
‘More English Fairy Tales’ by Joseph Jacobs
I’ve spoken before on this blog about how much I love folk tales and fairy stories and I think that what the Victorian collectors such as Andrew Lang, Jeremiah Curtin and Joseph Jacobs did is amazing. Every time I visit Cecil Sharp House in Camden I silently give thanks for all the work that Sharp [...]
‘April Lady’ by Georgette Heyer
Oh, Georgette Heyer, how I wanted to like you! How I wanted to find your writing delightful, engaging and witty and your stories compelling and absorbing. How I looked forward to returning to the world of Jane Austen’s novels through such a prolific author that I could stay in that world for months of reading [...]
TBR Lucky Dip: April
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 [...]
‘Through England on a Side-Saddle’ by Celia Fiennes
As I’ve mentioned before, I’m attempting to read more non-fiction this year, and so far I seem to be accomplishing most of that in the form of travelogues. There’s something endlessly fascinating about seeing a place through the eyes of someone else, whether it’s somewhere I’ve been before, somewhere I know like the back of [...]
‘Miss Buncle’s Book’ by D. E. Stevenson
Although I buy the majority of my books second hand, whether from charity shops, Ebay or Amazon Marketplace, occasionally I will allow myself to purchase a new book or two if they are particularly special. When I discovered sometime in early January that I had to go to Charing Cross for a meeting, meaning that [...]
March Summary
Where on earth has March gone? It seemed to crawl by when I was in the middle of it, but suddenly here we are, six days into April and I haven’t managed to post reviews for a single March book yet. In fact, I still have two lurking around from February. This is a combined result of [...]
Virago Book Club Event: Linda Grant
On Wednesday, I was one of thirty members of Virago’s Book Club lucky enough to attend their first live event: an evening with Linda Grant discussing her most recent book and the first Book Club title, . I knew it was bound to be an interesting evening for me as, although it was well-written and interesting, I hadn’t [...]