Category Archives: Mystery

Bad Girls

Posted on June 9, 2018 by

E. Lockhart: The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks (2008), We Were Liars (2014), Genuine Fraud (2017) When Jane Austen created Emma Woodhouse, she noted that here was a character “whom no one but myself will much like”. Austen must have enjoyed making … Continue reading →

Posted in Mystery, Review, Violence in YA lit, YA Lit | Tagged | 5 Comments

Funny how time changes everything

Posted on June 12, 2016 by

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 , | 2 Comments

Bigamous reading

Posted on March 25, 2016 by

When I haven’t the energy to read Proust, I read something else. In that respect, I’m no different from anyone else. But the other day my daughter commented on how strange it was that I was sitting on the couch reading … Continue reading →

Posted in Adventure, Graphic Novel, History, Humorous, Little Free Library, Mystery, reading, Travel book | Tagged , , , , , | 3 Comments

Temporary obsession: AR

Posted on February 1, 2016 by

My latest obsession started two months ago with Christina Hardyment’s Arthur Ransome and Captain Flint’s Trunk, an excellent study of the sources, both geographic and human, for his famous books, with a satisfying number of illustrations as well. Fans probably … Continue reading →

Posted in Adventure, Artist profile, History, Mystery, reading | Tagged , , | 7 Comments

A set of Pyms

Posted on February 8, 2015 by

Latest books as I work through the 2015 Reading Challenge: Excellent Women, Barbara Pym (1952) and The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym of Nantucket, Edgar Allan Poe (1838) Perhaps these two books shouldn’t be reviewed in the same post, for they have … Continue reading →

Posted in Adventure, Humorous, Mystery, Travel | Tagged , | 4 Comments

“Please lie about this book”

Posted on May 14, 2014 by

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 →

Posted in Fiction, Mystery, YA Lit | Tagged | 5 Comments

Three more shorties

Posted on February 5, 2014 by

Before I get caught up in the semester rush: R J Palacio’s Wonder (2012) is a perfect rendition of what I remember as the torture of being a ten-year-old. That first year of double digits, with all it implies about leaning … Continue reading →

Posted in Fantasy, Humorous, Mystery, YA Lit | Tagged , , | 2 Comments