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“It was salutory to remember, I told myself, that writers and other creative artists do not relish other people’s ideas. They usually have more than enough of their own, and well-meant suggestions only add to the burden of their already over-stocked minds.” Miss Read, Farewell to Fairacre (1993)
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- Witch Week 2020 September 5, 2020
- Hashtag Jane Austen August 1, 2020
- Getting over the Don’t-Wants July 5, 2020
- Farewell to Aotearoa May 28, 2020
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Category Archives: Fiction
Tidying the village
‘Miss Read’, 37 novels set in 3 fictional Cotswold villages (Fairacre, Thrush Green, and Caxley). Titles include Storm in the Village (1958), The Market Square (1966), and Return to Thrush Green (1978). Also Time Remembered (1986). One of my followers has recently suggested that … Continue reading
Posted in Fiction, Historical fiction
2 Comments
“The chosen of All-Muggleton”
Packing for a lengthy trip that includes a great deal of moving on and off trains, buses, boats and trams (not to mention walking) presents a particular challenge for a reader who hopes to travel light: How many books should … Continue reading
Posted in Adventure, Classic, Fiction, Humorous, Travel, Travel book
Tagged Charles Dickens
8 Comments
Bookshop for sale
The Bookshop (1978), Penelope Fitzgerald (156 pp.) Occasionally an ad appears in one of the papers I read about a bookstore for sale. The latest one is in the Scottish borders, and so enticing! The idea of living one’s life among books … Continue reading
Proust drops in at 44 Scotland Street
Alexander McCall Smith, 44 Scotland Street series (2005 – no end in sight) If you like your soap operas literate, breezy, quirky, and in book form, then the prolific Mr. Smith* has a few options for you. I settled into … Continue reading
Posted in 2016 Goals, Art, Fiction, Humorous, Roman fleuve, Series, Travel
Tagged Alexander McCall Smith, Marcel Proust
4 Comments
Proust, the perfect beach-read
Within a Budding Grove, pp. 534-714 Although I’m not a beach person, a 10-second video online sold me on this place in Mexico. Shade was the key. I can sit on a beach all day, if sun is not involved. … Continue reading
Funny how time changes everything
Reblogged (and updated) from my earlier blog, The Ineluctable Bookshelf (originally posted May 10, 11, 2010) Parnassus on Wheels (1917) and The Haunted Bookshop (1919), Christopher Morley When I asked the dealer in the used bookshop about these books, he said … Continue reading
Posted in Adventure, Bibliiomania, Fiction, Mystery, Reblog
Tagged Christopher Morley, Leonid Andreyev
2 Comments
Best Beloved Writers – thank you for all those books…!
Originally posted on Joan Aiken:
Always a favourite of course, her first and her last. There have been a spate of ‘Top Ten’ children’s book lists lately, voted for by readers and critics, but all seem to go for…
Walkabout in Suffolk
W. G. Sebald, The Rings of Saturn (1995/1998), tr. Michael Hulse. Is this book fiction or non-fiction? memoir or history? travelogue or invention? random stream-of-consciousness or carefully constructed exploration of ideas? Each time I read it, I struggle to understand Sebald’s … Continue reading
Any news?
Watch out, friends and colleagues: I plan to start speaking like a true Tillingite, asking “Any news?” when I run into people, and replying with an astonished “No!” if they reveal something gossipy and exciting. My recent trip to Rye made me eager to … Continue reading
“Please lie about this book”
e. lockhart, We Were Liars (2014) This post’s title is what Lockhart wrote when she signed my copy of We Were Liars at her book launch last night. I’m usually willing to comply with authors’ requests, but any lie I told would be a … Continue reading
