The Last Dragonslayer by Jasper Fforde Jasper Fforde has written a new book, and if it wasn’t for heroine being two weeks short of sixteen, no swearing, and no overt classic literary references, you’d be hard pushed to know that it was for young adults. I expect that many grown-ups will read it anyway and some Read More
Month: November 2010
The world of Ephemera #7
The word is ‘dirndl’ A dirndl, just in case you’ve never heard the word before, is the name for a traditional peasant dress worn in Bavaria, the Tyrol and the surrounding areas. It consists of a fitted bodice, blouse, full skirt and apron. I’m talking dirndls today because I have one – read on … Read More
New Stories from the Mabinogion #3
The Dreams of Max and Ronnie by Niall Griffiths See my previous post here for some background on this series of comtemporary retellings of the medieval Welsh story cycle the Mabinogion, and the first two titles in the sequence. The third book, The Dreams of Max and Ronnie to give its full title comprises two novellas based upon separate Read More
Don’t call me Vicky! Meet V.I. Warshawski …
Indemnity Only by Sara Paretsky. Meet V.I. Warshawski – friends get to call her Vic, never Vicky. Indemnity only is the first in a series of 13 novels featuring the sassy Chicagoan PI. One evening she meets a new client, a banker, who wants her to find his son’s missing girlfriend. Vic goes to the boy’s pad to Read More
The World of Ephemera #6
Family Photos I love looking at old family photos. Amongst all my Mum’s was a small album she inherited from my late Great-Aunt Muriel. This one shows Muriel and friends strolling down the street in Llandudno in 1929. Muriel is the third from the left, she was twenty-three when this was taken. I’ve no idea Read More
New Stories from the Mabinogion: vols 1 & 2
The Mabinogion is a collection of medieval Welsh stories of Celtic origin – they are written very much in the bardic tradition of oral storytelling. The eleven tales as normally collected have the four ‘branches’ of the Mabinogion proper, a set of Native Tales and three Romances; the Native Tales also include early references to Read More
The Death of King Arthur vs. Le Morte D’Arthur
The Death of King Arthur by Peter Ackroyd I am a huge fan of all things Arthurian – having always enjoyed books about myths and legends by Roger Lancelyn Green et al as a child, it was seeing the 1981 film Excalibur that turned this interest into a bit of an obsession. I read most of the old Read More
A Miscellany of Gaskella’s 2010 Midweek Miscellany posts
In 2010, I used to do a regular(ish) Midweek Miscellany post – full of bits and pieces. As I’ve been adding back all the reviews lost in the transfer process from old blog to new, what to do with posts like these has become a bit of a quandary, as some of these snippets are Read More
Cold War espionage feels so real in this book
The Spy Who Came in from the Coldby John Le Carré This was the October choice for our book group and I must say it proved to be a popular one given that several of the group had moaned ‘not a Le Carré’ when I suggested it; however this one’s relative brevity, tautness and utter plausibility Read More
Let’s talk about pop music
Pop Charts by Paul Copperwaite This was one of those impulse purchases in the charity shop. It’s the sort of book I’d never buy for myself, although I might have given it to my brother for Christmas as a silly present if I’d spotted it in a shop. For a pound however, it was a bargain Read More
The World of Ephemera #5
Medical Matters It’s time for another post in my series on paper finds – and I have three things to share that are all linked by being of a medical nature. First is my Mum’s discharge certificate from the evocatively named Purdysburn Fever Hospital after suffering a bout of scarlet fever back in 1939. Scarlet fever Read More
A Gothic spine-chiller for kids, adults too!
The Dead of Winter by Chris Priestley Priestley is an accomplished author and illustrator of children’s books, fiction and non-fiction. The past couple of years, he has specialised in horror stories for children. He’s written a series called Tales of Terror which have been well-received, (I know Scott Pack is a fan). The cover of his latest novel is brilliant Read More
A classic western – Yee-Haw!
Riders of the Purple Sage (Oxford World’s Classics) by Zane Grey A while ago I received a copy of the Oxford World’s Classics catalogue inviting me to ask for any books I’d like to review on my blog. Where to start! I could have chosen hundreds, but one in particular leapt out at me from a Read More
