Category Archives: History

Have you forgotten something?

Posted on March 31, 2020 by Lizzie Ross

Despite being set in two different centuries, nearly 100 years apart, the books in today’s post share one element: a blinkered Euro-centric view of life “down under”. Read on to see what I mean. In A Town Like Alice (1950, … Continue reading →

Posted in Adventure, Am reading, Australia, Fiction, Historical fiction, History, New Zealand, Travel | Tagged , , | 2 Comments

In the near future

Posted on February 26, 2020 by Lizzie Ross

Lory at The Emerald City Book Review recently wondered if her readers had reading plans for the year. Excellent question, if only because it gives me a chance to prep you for what’s to come on this blog. My usual … Continue reading →

Posted in Adventure, Am reading, Australia, Fiction, Historical fiction, History, New Zealand, Travel | 11 Comments

A well-governed shark

Posted on June 23, 2019 by Lizzie Ross

It’s time for another progress report on my reading-the-sea project. For this post, I had planned to include notes on Melville’s Billy Budd, but I’ve been busy having fun instead — fun reading other books, that is, so BB will … Continue reading →

Posted in Adventure, Am reading, Classic, History, Seafaring | Tagged , , , | 24 Comments

The voyage so far

Posted on May 16, 2019 by Lizzie Ross

As promised, here’s the first of what may be several updates on my tour of books set on water in honor of Herman Melville’s 200th birthday. Initially I had planned to make these reviews brief, but, well, you know … … Continue reading →

Posted in Adventure, Classic, Fan fiction, History, Seafaring, Travel | Tagged , | 19 Comments

Sea cruise, baby!

Posted on April 23, 2019 by Lizzie Ross

No need to get excited. I plan to travel virtually, in honor of Herman Melville’s 200th birthday. Over the next few months I’ll be aboard stories set on ships (with perhaps a rowboat or two) that will take me up … Continue reading →

Posted in Adventure, Am reading, Classic, Fiction, History, Seafaring | Tagged | 8 Comments

Super-Tramp!

Posted on March 7, 2019 by Lizzie Ross

No, not the 1970s prog-rock group (although their song, “Take the Long Way Home” may be apt for what will become obvious reasons). For this month’s Wales Readathon, Book Jotter has selected William H Davies’ Autobiography of a Super-Tramp as … Continue reading →

Posted in Am reading, Dewithon, History, Travel book, Wales Readathon | Tagged | 4 Comments

Brueghelian Obsession

Posted on September 14, 2018 by Lizzie Ross

The fourth and last in a series of novels involving the search for lost art. But a new slant here: this novel is for adults. Headlong, Michael Frayn (1999), Picador, 342 pp. Remember that Rod Serling story, where the Nazi … Continue reading →

Posted in Art, History, Mystery | Tagged , , | 2 Comments

Unexpected endings

Posted on August 21, 2016 by Lizzie Ross

Rest in Pieces: The Curious Fates of Famous Corpses, Bess Lovejoy (2013) Lovejoy gives us a list like no other: what happened to the mortal remains (bones, ashes, or otherwise) of historical figures, from Alexander the Great to Hunter S. … Continue reading →

Posted in Biography, History, Macabre | Tagged | 2 Comments

History for the curious

Posted on August 11, 2016 by Lizzie Ross

Frances and Joseph Gies, Women in the Middle Ages (1978) A brief review here. Gies and Gies, famous for their intelligent books on Medieval Europe, provide a guide to the lives of women from the fall of the Western Roman Empire to the … Continue reading →

Posted in History | 5 Comments

Spiritualism and the Mafia

Posted on August 5, 2016 by Lizzie Ross

Norman Lewis, Jackdaw Cake (1985) Here’s a life for you: Raised by your grandfather and three odd aunts. Reclaimed by your spiritualist parents when the aunts go doolally. Married into a Sicilian family (probably mafiosi), then separated from your partner by WWII … Continue reading →

Posted in Adventure, History, Memoir | Tagged | 2 Comments