'Do you know why you are doing this?' he asked, and Katherine hesitated, then shook her head, although she did know. As much as I would like to participate 100% in Cathy & Kim's #WilliamTrevor2023 reading event, I knew that it would be an impossible ask. As much as I adore William Trevor, to read … Continue reading The Room | William Trevor #IRLshortstory
You always looked back, she thought. You looked back at other years, other Christmas cards arriving, the children younger. I'm sneaking my first William Trevor story in a few days early to coincide with my one and only A Literary Christmas entry for 2022. Those who have followed my previous A Literary Christmas stories, will … Continue reading Another Christmas | William Trevor #ALiteraryChristmas
Sherlock Holmes took his bottle from the corner of the mantlepiece, and his hypodermic syringe from its neat morocca-case. The Sign of the Four was my latest lucky spin for the Classics Club and my second Sherlock Holmes story. There's not a lot to be said about another Sherlock Holmes story that hasn't already been … Continue reading The Sign of the Four | Arthur Conan Doyle #CCspin
All I can remember, and this is what I told the police over and over again, is that there was a party at the house and I'd been drinking. It took me several weeks to read Benang in preparation for Indigenous Literature Week. It was intense, demanding and confronting. I'm very grateful to have finally … Continue reading After Story | Larissa Behrendt #AWWfiction
'Whither, O splendid ship' the poet asked as he lay on the shore and watched the great sailing ship pass away on the horizon. The six essays in The London Scene were first written by Woolf in late 1931 and then published in Good Housekeeping between December 1931 to December 1932. This edition includes a … Continue reading The London Scene | Virginia Woolf #GBRnonfiction
A few minutes past midnight on Tuesday, 10 September 1940, an air raid struck Mecklenburgh Square. After a mini-reading slump in April, I needed something to capture my attention and my heart. Normally I would go to some cosy crime, or pick up a Jane Austen. Instead, this time, I found myself in the warm … Continue reading Square Haunting | Francesca Wade #GBRnonfiction
For the first half of this year, I was avoiding plague literature, like the plague! But since reading Camus' The Plague during August, I seem to be verging on obsession. What are the signs, I hear you ask? First up, how many people do you know, who take plague literature with them on a holiday … Continue reading A Journal of the Plague Year | Daniel Defoe #GBRclassic
I'm still trying to catch up on posts leftover from my magnificent Christmas reading binge. Girl, Woman, Other: A Novel by Bernardine Evaristo is the final one. It is certainly not the least though. In fact, it very nearly overtook The Yield as my favourite book for 2019. What stopped it from doing so? Mostly … Continue reading Girl, Woman, Other | Bernardine Evaristo #BookerWinner
When I woke up on Saturday morning with a vague sensation that my cold from two weeks ago was trying to return, I knew that I had to do something drastic. I needed comfort and I needed warm and cosy. And I needed it now! I needed the cosy comfort of a dear friend. Someone … Continue reading Gentlemen Formerly Dressed by Sulari Gentill
I'm not sure what I can say about my reread of A Christmas Carol that hasn't already been said a million times in a million different ways. A Christmas Carol was first published in 1843 and it has never been out of print since. And there's a very good reason for that.This novella is full … Continue reading A Christmas Carol | Charles Dickens #ALiteraryChristmas
During my early 20's I read several Dickens and loved them in a melancholy kind of way. They were such big, epic reads about the trials and trubulations of nineteenth century England & France that I've found it hard since then to justify the time to read something that would ultimately make me feel blue! … Continue reading Bleak House | Charles Dickens
I've enjoyed the Lily Brett novels, short stories and articles I've read over the years. And Lola Bensky was no exception. You know exactly what you're going to get with Brett. You know there is going to be lots of Holocaust survivor issues, body weight issues and a protagonist who was born in a displaced … Continue reading Lola Bensky | Lily Brett
Some of you may have noticed my absence over the past week or so. Every now and again I have a reading holiday when I ease back on reading time, but this week was more about a technology holiday. I simply needed a break from all the stimulation and attention demanded from computers, phones, tv's … Continue reading Maisie Dobbs #6 Among the Mad | Jacqueline Winspear
As most of you know by now, vampire/werewolf literature is not really my thing. But every now and again I feel obligated to give one a go. I tried Twilight three years ago when B14 was reading it. I read 6 or 7 chapters. I could see the appeal during the set-up stage, but by the … Continue reading The Highgate Vampire | Asa Bailey
Slammerkin: loose gown or loose woman. I loved Room by Emma Donoghue - she wrote about unforgetable characters with such emotional force that I was very keen to try another one of her books. London in the 1700's was not an easy place to be if you were poor and female. Mary is both … Continue reading Slammerkin | Emma Donoghue
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