(republished into its original place in the time-line from my lost post archive. See the rest of this series of posts here.) I haven’t done one of my ephemera posts on old papers and clippings found in my late Mum’s hoard for ages, but came across these two knitting patterns recently which piqued my interest… A Read More
Another different Italian Inspector!
Death and the Olive Grove by Marco Vichi, translated by Stephen Sartarelli This is the second of Vichi’s novels featuring Inspector Bordelli of the Florentine police. I’ve yet to read the first, but I don’t think it really mattered. It was first published in Italian in 2003, the English translation was published this year. When Read More
The making of a scientist
Konstantinby Tom Bullough When I met Tom Bullough at the Penguin Blogger’s Night last month, I was instantly taken with his reading from his novel Konstantin. Later, talking to him, he was excited by the finished article and showed me the lovely fold out cover. An oversized paperback original, the dust-jacket is scattered with gilt Read More
Can faith work miracles?
The Land of Decoration by Grace McCleen This book wasn’t what I was expecting, although it did start off that way… In the beginning there was an empty room, a little bit of space, a little bit of light, a little bit of time. I said: ‘I am going to make fields,’ and I made Read More
Revisiting a children’s classic from 1958
Marianne Dreams by Catherine Storr In the Puffin edition (above), this book was my favourite contemporary children’s novel as I was growing up. I read it in the late 1960s, not once, not twice, but countless times. The story of a bed-bound girl whose drawings came to life in her dreams both entranced and scared Read More
The case of the randy old goats and the vampire!
Linger Awhile by Russell Hoban The ex-pat US author Russell Hoban, who lived in London, died at the end of 2011 aged 86. He kept writing right up to the end. I haven’t paid a visit to Hobanville in a while, and this short novel published in 2006 neatly filled in the gap between more Read More
“I would walk 500 miles” – well 627 actually…
The Unlikely Pilgrimage Of Harold Fry by Rachel Joyce This is a road novel, but with a difference. Harold Fry used to rep for the brewery, but he’s now retired. He has nothing to do but get in his wife Maureen’s way. He’s in a rut, they’re in a rut, basically ever since their son Read More
Ali Shaw & The Abingdon Writers Group
Last night I went to a meeting of the Abingdon Writers Group to which they’d invited author Ali Shaw to speak, and opened it up to non-members as part of the 2012 Abingdon Arts Festival. First we heard from several members of the group who talked about their experiences, the benefits of having a support Read More
Who is John Wayne? Who killed Susan? Does it matter?
Newton’s Swing by Chris Paling Chris Paling has written nine novels, but it’s taken those nine to get some real recognition via being chosen as one of Fiction Uncovered’s 2011 crop of the best authors you haven’t read yet with his book Nimrod’s Shadow. That book is in my TBR pile, but I discovered I Read More
A brilliantly entertaining “Not a Sherlock Holmes” novel…
The Beekeeper’s Apprentice by Laurie R King Novels which adopt other authors’ characters can be a bit hit or miss – I think I was the only person who thoroughly enjoyed PD James’s Pride & Prejudice sequel. With the benefit of hindsight, I totally saw it as a continuation of the TV series though, rather than Read More
Cosy Weirdness in Whitby
Never the Bride and Something Borrowed by Paul Magrs Just before I started this blog, I read a book that gave me a sustained bout of chuckling all the way through. On the face of it, Never the Bride was a cosy mystery set in Whitby, with two old ladies doing the sleuthing… But underneath Read More
Bottling Things Up, or Bottling Out?
The Bottle Factory Outing by Beryl Bainbridge A couple of weeks ago, Simon at Savidge Reads chose three books he was going to read before his imminent thirtieth birthday, (and he asked for more recommendations for forty books to read before he is forty.) One of the three was based on a suggestion of mine Read More
A classic adventure
The 39 Steps by John Buchan (1915) Richard Hannay is newly returned from living in South Africa, and he’s already bored with London. Everything seems to be happening elsewhere, especially in the Near East, and the Greek Premier, Karolides, seems to feature. “It struck me that Albania was the sort of place that might keep Read More
Penguin Blogger’s Night
I had the privilege to be invited to the second annual Penguin Blogger’s Night which happened yesterday. Having been last year, I knew it would be a great evening, and I made all the arrangements so that I could go. It was held in the fifth floor bar at Waterstones Piccadilly – amazingly I’d never been in Read More
Book Group Report – Land of the grey
Stasiland: Stories from Behind the Berlin Wall by Anna Funder After the racy delights of Jilly Cooper’s Riders last month, we went for something completely different for our February read. Stasiland by Anna Funder is a work of investigative journalism, chronicling the lives of some people who lived in the GDR before the Berlin Wall came Read More
For blacker than black, read super-noir
This post was republished into my blog’s original timeline from my lost posts archive. The Killer Inside Me by Jim Thompson Scene: A diner in Central City, Texas; it’s the early 1950s. A man walks up to the counter to pay his bill… The proprietor shoved back my money and laid a couple of cigars on Read More
Reference Books 1 – Internet 0
My daughter had to make a poster with ten facts about Abingdon where we live for her Geography homework tonight. She wanted to search out really interesting things; putting “Abingdon is on the river Thames” and a picture of a boat wasn’t good enough for her, (good girl!). So she started researching on the internet Read More
Let it snow
The Snow Child by Eowyn Ivey This lovely modern fairytale is that rarity – a book that lives up to the hype. There have been many reviews, in both print and on blog over the past couple of months. Without exception I think, all have been glowing and gushing about this book – I’ll now Read More
It’s. Bill Shatner’s. Autobiography. Yes. Captain Kirk…
Up Till Now: The Autobiography by William Shatner with David Fisher I can’t remember if I’ve confessed up to it since I’ve been blogging, but I used to be a full-blown Trekker – a Star Trek fan. I managed to stop just short of buying a uniform, but had all the videos of all the Read More
Short Takes on Two Short Stories…
I don’t read many short stories, but this week, I’ve happened to read two … The Small Miracleby Paul Gallico Published in 1951, Gallico’s story is a charming fable of faith and love about an orphan boy Pepino, and his donkey Violette. Pepino and Violette live in Assisi. They make ends meet by doing donkey Read More
A Favourite Reference Book – About Books…
The Reader’s Companion to the Twentieth Century Novel ed Peter Parker. I know that you bookish sorts like nothing more than a book about books, so today I shall introduce you to one of my favourites. Published back in 1994, and edited by Peter Parker, (consultant editor Frank Kermode), this chunky tome chronicles the twentieth Read More
Aaarrr! Here be Pirates, Aaarrr, me hearties!
This Easter, I shall be hotfooting it to the multiplex to see the latest film from the ever-wonderful Aardman (or should that be Aaarrr-dman, sic) Animations which is called The Pirates – Band of Misfits (Trailer here). With an all star cast of voices including Hugh Grant as the Pirate Captain and Salma Hayek as Read More
Murder – the lawyer’s tale
The Child Who by Simon Lelic After writing a spec fiction thriller for his second novel The Facility, review here, Lelic returns to give us a different take on familiary territory for his third. His stunning debut Rupture, review here, was a Whydunnit which explored how a teacher came to murder his pupils. The Child Who takes its inspiration Read More
Book Group Report – Rutshire Redux
A couple of weeks ago, I reviewed our Book Group’s January read here. This week we met, so here’s an update on what the group thought about Riders by Jilly Cooper. I was the only woman in our group who’d never read a Jilly Cooper novel. The rest had read quite a few over the Read More
Raining in my heart?
The Man Who Rained by Ali Shaw When Ali Shaw’s first magical novel, The Girl with Glass Feet was published in 2009, I was drawn to this adult fairy-tale like a Greek sailor to the sirens, nothing could have stopped me reading it. Luckily for me, it was good – very good. Without doubt, it Read More
Mostly Bookbrains III – what a night!
Phew! I can rest from having to compile quiz questions for a while. The third Mostly Bookbrains lit quiz night happened yesterday evening. It was icy cold out, but that didn’t stop the bookish folk of Abingdon and beyond from going out and filling our school hall – Dave, the caretaker, had to get extra Read More
Australian Literature Month – Just about made it!
This January has been Australian Literature Month, hosted by Kim at Reading Matters, and the interweb has been alive with Aussie Lit. Before I give my thoughts on the book I read for the month, I’d like to recall my very first experience of Australian books… It was the early 1970s I think, and my Read More
Henry Green Week – Party Going
Party Going by Henry Green It’s Henry Green Week hosted by Winston’s Dad. Before Stu decided to champion this underappreciated British author, who mostly wrote in the second quarter of the 20th C, I’d never heard of him – but he’s quite a discovery… I bought an edition which collected three of his novels together – Read More
Sex & Show-jumping – only in Rutshire!
Riders by Jilly Cooper. I have never had a personal desire to get on a horse, but watching show-jumping on telly was a fixture that I looked forward to while growing up. The Horse of the Year Show with the Puissance always ending with that gigantic wall getting higher and higher, the relay races, and the Read More
Adrian Mole is 30 or is that 43 3/4? …
Can you believe it? The first Adrian Mole book by Sue Townsend is thirty years old! Was it really back in 1982 that we first met the spotty and pubescent Leicester teenager? I can well remember the publishing phenomenon that was the first Adrian Mole book. I was a few months into my first job for Read More
