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“If not quite a platform, a play is certainly a plinth, a small eminence from which to address the world, hold forth about one’s concerns or the concerns of one’s characters. But not to preach. Writing a play I have never tried to hide the sound of my own voice. It hasn’t always been where an audience or a critic has thought to find it, and certainly not always in the mouth of the leading character. It’s often a divided voice or a dissenting one; two things (at lest) are being said and I am not always sure which one I agree with. But that is one reason I write plays: one can speak with a divided voice.” –Alan Bennett, excerpt from 2 October 2018 Diary entry, LRB 3 January 2019
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My last 5 posts
- The Last Ten Books Tag January 3, 2019
- Turning January 1, 2019
- A fountain of youth December 19, 2018
- Jumping right in November 30, 2018
- Coasting November 29, 2018
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Category Archives: Historical fiction
Amuse bouche: magical realism version
The Enchantress of Florence, Salman Rushdie (Random House, 2008) Here, I offer you another tidbit to tempt your palate for other-worldly tales: a story of a mysterious European and of Akbar, the 16th century Mughal emperor. The European goes by … Continue reading
Backward Rambles
Little Follies: The Personal History, Adventures, Experiences and Observations of Peter Leroy (So Far) (1995), Eric Kraft What do you remember from your childhood? How far back do your memories go? More importantly, how much can you trust your memories? … Continue reading
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
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This and that and some other things
For the past 3 weeks, it hasn’t been Radio WTWP (wall-to-wall Proust, with a tip of the hat to Prof. Peter Schickele) on my reading shelf. Here’s some other stuff I’ve been clearing out: Desmond Seward’s The Demon’s Brood, a 300-page bare-bones … Continue reading
Why I love libraries
I’m sure I’m preaching to the choir, but I’d like to point out what can happen in a library that can’t happen anywhere else: discovering old books you never even knew had been written. I’d gone to my college libe to borrow … Continue reading
When you run out of Jane Austen and the Brontës, try Mrs. Gaskell
Three more books to discuss for the 2015 Reading Challenge. I have to start with three quotes: [Mrs. Forrester explained] … in her day the only use people made of four-syllabled words was to teach how they should be spelt. … Continue reading
Posted in 2015 Reading Challenge, Classic, Historical fiction, Romance
Tagged Elizabeth Gaskell
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