With a drop of ink for a mirror, the Egyptian sorcerer undertakes to reveal to any chance comer far-reaching visions of the past. This is what I undertake to do for you, reader. Adam Bede was my lucky choice for the last Classics Club Spin. I was thrilled to then discover that Nick @One Catholic … Continue reading Adam Bede | George Eliot #EliotReadalong
Opening Line: Here she is, standing in the schoolyard. She is six years old, dressed in a crisp green uniform. Other children are on the swings and seesaw, but she has taken herself off to stand alone under the eucalyptus at the edge of the playground. Nothing Ever Happens Here: A Memoir of Loss and … Continue reading Nothing Bad Ever Happens Here | Heather Rose #AWWmemoir
Trian's stomach growls. He's not twenty yet, still growing, and always hungry. When I first heard about Emma Donoghue's book, Haven, I thought it would not be for me. Even though it was historical fiction, it was three monks alone on an island in Ireland. The religious life holds very little interest for me, so … Continue reading Haven | Emma Donoghue #BookReview
She rides out of the forest alone. Seventeen years old, in the cold March drizzle, Marie who comes from France. The first thing I did when I finished this powerful, compelling story about nuns-in-a-medieval-abbey was duck, duck, go! I was curious to find out how someone who lives in Gainesville, Florida came to write a … Continue reading Matrix | Lauren Groff #USAfiction
La Teuse came in and popped her broom and her feather duster against the alter. Confession one: this story ended up being a chore to read. After six engaging, enthralling Zola's I have hit my first dud with the seventh. Confession two: for the past week I have been trying to read three books that … Continue reading The Sin of Abbé Mouret | Émile Zola #FRAclassic
It had stopped raining. Okay, I'm now a Niall Williams convert. This is Happiness is a delight of a book, from start to finish. Full of wonderful, poignant story-telling and rich, humorous characterisation. It is proudly Irish, with glorious descriptions of the weather and the matter-of-fact grimness and poverty of everyday life in County Clare … Continue reading This is Happiness | Niall Williams #IRLfiction
Given the ridiculous amount of books I have on the go at the moment, the idea of starting yet another, seems rather ridiculous. But I struggle to pass up any opportunity to join a readalong at the best of times, but when it also means reading along with Jean and Cleo, then how could I … Continue reading The Illustrated Golden Bough | Sir James George Fraser #Readalong
La Conquête de Plassans, or The Conquest of Plassans (1874) is the fourth novel in Émile Zola's twenty-volume Rougon-Macquart series that I have been reading with Fanda for #Zoladdiction. My Oxford World's Classics 2014 edition is translated by Helen Constantine and has an Introduction by *Patrick McGuinness. He reminded me that, Like all of Zola's … Continue reading The Conquest of Plassans | Émile Zola #FRAclassic
As part of our year long readalong of War and Peace (it's not too late to join!), Nick has selected a number of Tolstoy's short stories and essays to make our 361 chapter book stretch to 366 days.At the end of Volume 1, we have the first such extension read. Perfectly timed, too, I have to … Continue reading The Three Questions | Leo Tolstoy #ShortStory
I picked Midwinter Break from my TBR pile to read for Cathy @746Books #ReadIreland18 month. It is a staff pick at work thanks to one of my colleagues, so I was looking forward to it. But I failed to engage. There was lots to like about the story. I enjoyed the time that Stella and Gerry had … Continue reading Midwinter Break | Bernard MacLaverty
Before Thomas Thwaites dreamed up the idea of being a GoatMan and before Peter Wohlleben communed with the trees in Germany, Frances Hodgson Burnett gave us the original back to nature, talk with the animals, boy child, Dickon. Dickon is a kindred spirit to all the creatures that live on the moors. He mothers orphaned lambs and … Continue reading The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett
I first discovered that Arthur Conan Doyle had written books other than his Sherlock Holmes ones earlier this year when Carol @Journey and Destination reviewed The Tragedy of the Korosko. It's a contemporary (for Conan Doyle) fiction full of high drama and tension with political undertones. Global communities, religious freedom and personal responsibility are debated by … Continue reading The Tragedy of the Korosko | Arthur Conan Doyle
I haven't read anything about Joan since I studied George Bernard Shaw's Saint Joan for my HSC. I'm now tempted to reread the play as well as search out any other stories that fictionalise her life.The facts that did exist about Joan's life are scarce and sometimes conflicting. They are now also so clouded in … Continue reading Joan of Arc: The Story of Jehanne Darc by Lili Wilkinson
Jo's Boys is the final instalment in Louisa May Alcott's Little Women series.It's an odd mix of nostalgia, religion and morality.It's probably the least satisfying of the four stories, but somehow indispensable for its heart-warming conclusion.We see our original little women all grown, married with children of their own. We see the little men approaching … Continue reading Jo’s Boys by Louisa May Alcott
Fictionalised biographies are one of my favourite form of literature, and although the historical evidence for David and Solomon is very slight, there have been a couple of recent archaeological finds that suggests that a unified governing system was actually in place during this time in this particular region.So few facts are a blessing for … Continue reading The Secret Chord by Geraldine Brooks
bronasbooks.com 