It’s so long since I did a bits and pieces post – it’s only worth doing when you’ve the requisite bits to talk about though… Firstly, advance warning to local quiz fans – The Mostly Bookbrains Literary Quiznight is returning in April, Friday 19th to be precise. No further details at the moment, but all Read More
Month: January 2013
A life unfulfilled, funny but full of melancholy…
Mrs Bridge by Evan S Connell Just before Christmas, I acquired a review copy of the imminent Penguin Modern Classics reissue of Mr Bridge by Evan S Connell. I knew nothing about the book at all, but the synopsis intrigued me. Finding that Connell had previously written Mrs Bridge, and that Mr Bridge was therefore Read More
Re-reading one of my favourite books…
The Shipping News by Annie Proulx I’ve now finished my re-read of Annie Proulx’s novel The Shipping News, that I told you about a few days ago here. When I finished the book the first time, so sure was I that I’d be re-reading, and hopefully re-loving, it that I bought myself a luxury numbered Read More
Falling in love again …
The Joys of Re-reading I don’t do much re-reading. I have too many unread books to get through, both new shiny ones and more of those which have been languishing on the shelves for far too long. Once in a blue moon though, I will re-read a book – just a couple a year usually. It Read More
What a stinker! But in a good way…
Mr Stink by David Walliams After watching the BBC’s enjoyable TV version of Mr Stink at Christmas, I was inspired to read the book to see what Walliams, who adapted his own book for the TV, and put in a cameo as the Prime Minister, was like on the page. I had read somewhere that Read More
Watching the detectives …
Hawthorn and Childby Keith Ridgway This is one of those strange novels that is not quite what it seems; at times it insinuates itself into your being so that you almost feel part of the story, at others you’re left outside the action observing from afar, and sometimes you can’t get your head around it at Read More
Losing myself in the Lymond Chronicles
The Game Of Kings by Dorothy Dunnett I reported on my experiences about reading the first half of The Game of Kings, the first volume in Dorothy Dunnett’s saga of 16th century life in the Scottish border country, here. A month later I’ve finished the book and thus the first leg of my plans to read the series. Read More
A 'Hardy' Christmas for our Book Group
Jude the Obscure by Thomas Hardy Our book group more often than not picks a classic to read over Christmas. This year we picked possibly the least Christmassy and most draining novel in a long time for our festive read – Jude the Obscure is not a book for the faint-hearted. So, when we met and discussed Read More
An unusual friendship
The Universe Versus Alex Woods by Gavin Extence Alex Woods is an unique young boy. It’s not that he is prime material for bullying because his single mum is a clairvoyant white witch who runs a new-age shop in Glastonbury, he has a much more bizarre claim to fame that has come to dominate his Read More
2012 in First Lines
In my reading, I’m still straddling the years – finishing two books started in 2012. The historical epic The Game of Kings for my Doing Dunnett readalong, and Hardy’s Jude the Obscure for book group. Once I’ve finished those, I’ll enjoy reading something totally different (from my TBR of course). So it’s nice that a Read More
Appearing elsewhere …
Just a short post to say that today I’m appearing elsewhere … My bookcases and I are over at Savidge Reads. Answering Simon’s questionnaire about my bookcases (and let’s face it, my mountainous TBR), was great fun and I am delighted to be taking part in his regular feature. I took a bag of books Read More
Who is Silvia?
Oh Dear Silvia by Dawn French Shakespeare’s question from The Two Gentlemen of Verona is an apposite one to ask of Dawn French’s new novel, for the title character never says a word, being in a coma after a fall from a third floor balcony. Instead, Silvia’s story is told from many different points of Read More
