Eden's Outcasts: The Story of Louisa May Alcott and Her Father won the 2008 Pulitzer Prize for Biography or Autobiography. I started reading it in 2016. I thoroughly enjoyed the early part - Matteson wrote a very thorough and in-depth look at Louisa's childhood. But the font was small and things began to get difficult thanks … Continue reading Eden’s Outcasts | John Matteson
I knew next to nothing about the mother/daughter Mary Wollstonecraft/Shelley pair until reading Romantic Outlaws: The Extraordinary Lives of Mary Wollstonecraft and Mary Shelley. I had started reading Frankenstein for the very first time as a #CCdare when the Preface alerted me to the fact that there had been an ongoing controversy about who wrote Frankenstein. … Continue reading Romantic Outlaws | Charlotte Gordon
Reading Frankenstein for the first time was a curious thing. We all think we know the story. At least, I thought I did. I was expecting a slock-horror story full of scary, lurking, creeping monster moments with lots of people screaming and fleeing his terrible claws. I didn't get this. I also hadn't appreciated that … Continue reading Frankenstein | Mary Shelley
Who knew that when I decided to join in Marg @Books in Bloom's #Frankenfest as my #CCdare choice for October, that I would be opening up a can of worms simply by reading the Preface! I'm reading the 1999 Wordsworth Classics edition that includes the original 1817 Preface by Percy Bysshe Shelley as well as … Continue reading Frankenstein | Mary Shelley – The Preface
Flight From the Enchanter by Iris Murdoch was her second book published in 1956. However, there is evidence that it was the first book she actually penned, according to Patricia Duncker, who wrote the Introduction in my edition.Either way, Flight From the Enchanter is an assured piece of of writing by an emerging writer. But … Continue reading Flight From the Enchanter by Iris Murdoch
Hmmmmm, Under the Net by Iris Murdoch...where do I start?Perhaps I should start with my expectations.I expected an English-style comedy of errors featuring a bumbling, gentleman layabout.I'm reading the Random Vintage classic version, so the back cover tells me that,Jake, clever and lazy, makes a living out of writing translations and sponging off his friends. … Continue reading Under the Net by Iris Murdoch
My Jane-ite credentials will hopefully be confirmed by my declaration that I have two copies of Love and Freindship (sic) on my bookshelf! One is in my lovely cloth bound Penguin Classics (2014); the other is part of my treasured Folio Society Jane Austen boxed set from 2003. Between the two books, I believe I have the entire … Continue reading Love and Freindship (sic) | Jane Austen #AusteninAugust
Lady Susan is an epistolary novel written around 1794 when Austen was in her late teens (although it was not published until 1871).Lady Susan, herself, is an amoral, self-serving coquette, but it's hard not to love her just a little bit. She has a happy knack of twisting the facts to suit herself and an … Continue reading Lady Susan by Jane Austen
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
The Catherine Wheel was my latest #CCSpin read.I found it quite a tough read at times.Harrower's only novel to be set in post war England focuses on young Clemency Jones. Brilliant writing evokes a tangible sense of the cold, deprivation and chaos that existed in London at this time.But it is Clem's chance meeting with … Continue reading The Catherine Wheel by Elizabeth Harrower
The Ladies of Lyndon (1923) was my very first Kennedy as well as being Kennedy's very first published novel.When I recently spotted that Jane @Beyond Eden Rock was hosting a Margaret Kennedy Day today, I knew that this would be the perfect opportunity for me to jump on board the Kennedy bandwagon.The Ladies of Lyndon is not … Continue reading The Ladies of Lyndon by Margaret Kennedy
It has taken me a while to write this review for The Voyage Out, as I had got myself into a bit of a muddle.A literary muddle.After reading such a fine literary classic, full of clever literary devices, I felt duty bound to write a clever, literary review in appreciation.But, of course, there are already … Continue reading The Voyage Out by Virginia Woolf
I love finding new memes and new-to-me blogs.Thanks to Hamlette's Poetry Month, I've been visiting quite a few new-to-me blogs and discovering lots of hidden gems.One of those little gems is Heidi's Sharing the Journey blog and her meme, Inkling Explorations.Each month, Heidi posts a literary subject for us to explore on our own blogs.Some … Continue reading Inklings – A Lady in Literature
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
Usually, I prefer to read the book before I see the movie, but in this case, our long hot summer got the better of my good intentions.I recently escaped the heat by watching Brooklyn and Carol back to back in our local cinema.Both movies were fabulous for very different reasons and I came away determined to … Continue reading Carol by Patricia Highsmith
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