Martine Bailey, An Appetite for Violets (2015) Start with an intriguing opening: a mouldering, uneaten feast, seen through the eyes of a hapless young man in search of his runaway sister. Add some piquant ingredients: the voices of servants, with their own lives and thoughts under the genteel surface imposed by their aristocratic employers. Take […]
Today marks the publication of Issue Three of Shiny New Books, which, if you haven’t yet encountered it, is a terrific online quarterly put together by four UK-based bloggers, featuring the best new fiction, non-fiction, and reprints. I’m thrilled to have two of my reviews included in this issue! I got to share my enthusiasm […]
One of my blogging goals this year is to write a monthly review post. Here I can keep better track of my reading overall, since I don’t post about every book I read. I would also like to highlight some of my favorite posts by other bloggers, and maybe some other fun things that I […]
Margery Sharp, The Nutmeg Tree (1937) Margery Sharp, Cluny Brown (1944) When Fleur in Her World alerted me to the existence of a charming and witty but largely forgotten mid-20th-century novelist, I was glad to join in with the fun of celebrating Margery Sharp’s 110th birthday by reading and reviewing a book or two. And […]
Carlo Collodi, Pinocchio (1883; Limited Editions Club, 1937) Growing up, I was lucky to have a few books illustrated by Richard Floethe: Ballet Shoes and Circus Shoes by Noel Streatfeild, as well as Pinocchio. Floethe’s strong, minimalist images were very striking to me, with their clean lines and simple shapes. Like many who develop a […]
Cheryl Rice, Where Have I Been All My Life? (She Writes Press, 2014) Today, I’m pleased to be hosting a stop on the blog tour for Where Have I Been All My Life? In this honest and heartfelt memoir, Cheryl Rice takes us along on the difficult road she had to travel after losing […]
Mythology is the discourse we need in extremity. We have to be prepared for a myth to change us forever. Karen Armstrong, A Short History of Myth (2005) Image: Edmund Dulac, from The Marriage of Cupid and Psyche
Jo Walton, The Just City (Tor, 2015) Nobody can take an idea and run with it like Jo Walton. This is the writer who gave us a Trollopean social satire populated by dragons (Tooth and Claw), a country house murder mystery that turns into a chilling alternate history of a Fascist England (Farthing), and a […]
Graphic design is an art form that we don’t always think about because it surrounds us every day, yet I’m fascinated by how it subtly influences our experience of everything we read. I recently had my own blog redesigned to reflect my own preferences, and I’ve noticed both that it both gives me significantly more […]
Emily Bronte, Wuthering Heights (1847, Folio Society, 1991) Illustration by Rovina Cai Wuthering Heights has never been my favorite Bronte novel. I first read it in high school as one of the required texts for my British Lit class (the gloomy purplish Signet Classics cover is still stamped on my brain). All the characters with […]