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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
- Was it a bear or a Russian or what? February 16, 2019
- Book gluttony February 9, 2019
- A slow month … February 7, 2019
- The Last Ten Books Tag January 3, 2019
- Turning January 1, 2019
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Category Archives: Mystery
Brueghelian Obsession
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 Michael Frayn, Pieter Breughel the Elder, W H Auden
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The Borrowers Meet Don Marquis’ Archy
Third in a series reviewing novels about stolen paintings. Masterpiece (2008), Elise Broach (illus. Kelly Murphy), 288 pp. It’s a bit strange to read about “beetles” living under the sink of a NYC apartment, but I suspect Broach’s editors wouldn’t … Continue reading
Ars gratia artis
To keep with my most recent post’s art-mystery theme, I’ve resurrected this from my now defunct earlier blog, The Ineluctable Bookshelf. Two more will follow in the next few days. Chasing Vermeer (2004), Blue Balliett, 254 pp. (+ two sequels) … Continue reading
Posted in Adventure, Art, Mystery
Tagged Alexander Calder, Blue Balliett, Frank Lloyd Wright, Johannes Vermeer
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Art in peril
Laura Marx Fitzgerald, Under the Egg (2014) and The Gallery (2016) (both read as e-books from the NYPL) It’s no surprise that these two middle-grade novels by an art historian involve art: missing masterpieces, questions of ownership, and just plain how to … Continue reading
Posted in Adventure, Art, Mystery
Tagged Blue Balliett, E L Konigsburg, Laura Marx Fitzgerald
2 Comments
Bad Girls
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
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
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Bigamous reading
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 Allie Brosh, Donald Culross Peattie, PG Wodehouse, RA Dick, Robin Sloan, Wilbur Bassett
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