20 Books of Summer – final reviews part 1 – Orwell + books #21-22 by Barrett & deWitt

Now the first week of being back at School is over, I shall revert to some shorter reviews for the remaining books I read which, Orwell excepted, were extras to my twenty! So I don’t feel guilty about reviewing them late. Animal Farm by George Orwell This was a book group choice – we’re on Read More

Review catch-up – novels by Marian Engel & Alicia Drake

I managed to sign up for rather a lot of blog tours – but for some fab books – in May, which has meant the other books I’ve read have rather had to take second fiddle. Time to catch up with a couple. Bear by Marian Engel First published in 1976, reprinted by Daunt Books Read More

England’s library estate (with detours)

Before getting started with my review of the book pictured above, I just wanted to share a little about the three Croydon Borough libraries that shaped my childhood and adolescence. Coulsdon Library was the one I went to as a child every weekend to replenish my stock of reading materials. The children’s library had a Read More

The Name of the Rose – chunk the third…

Well, that’s that! I finished the NotR yesterday, just in time for this post to make my original aim to read and write about it through January. Do check out my posts on the first and middle thirds of the book here and here. The final part, days five to seven, begins with Eco giving Read More

Gothic with a twist

Isabel’s Skin by Peter Benson Peter Benson is one of those underrated British authors that never write the same book twice. Each novel is different. I’ve only read one of his before: that was Odo’s Hanging about the commissioning of the Bayeux Tapestry published in the mid 1990s. Lately he’s been best known for Two Cows and Read More