I’m telling you stories. Trust me. It has been well over twenty years since I read Jeanette Winterson’s Oranges are not the Only Fruit and Sexing the Cherry in quick succession. I’m not sure why I never returned to her writing, but on the strength of The Passion, it seems that I have been missing…
Joan Lindsay’s Picnic at Hanging Rock, originally published in 1967 is a story which has not only captured the public imagination, but has entered into urban legend. A critically-acclaimed film version by Peter Weir and a recent television adaptation have only added to the allure of this tale of young white women who go missing at…
Aiding and Abetting is a curious little novel. It was Spark’s penultimate novel, written six years before her death, and is a fictionalised account of the fate of the infamous Lord Lucan. In London, in 1974, Lord Lucan — or “Lucky” as he was called by his friends — bludgeoned his children’s nanny to death…
I Remember You is my first experience with thriller writer Yrsa Sigurđardóttir and I was incredibly impressed with this novel which deftly mixes the rational crime story with the supernatural ghost story. In I Remember You, she takes inspiration from the heritage of Icelandic literature, funnelling ancient ghost stories into an exploration of modern Icelandic society,…
Read more No 406 I Remember You by Yrsa Sigurđardóttir, translated by Philip Roughton
Well, that’s it for another year – 20 Books of Summer ends tomorrow and what a blast it’s been. Although I didn’t finish my challenge this year I am still counting it as a win. I read 17 of my original 20 choices and swapped two books for others. The Anita Brookner I had chosen,…
Read more Goodbye to 20 Books of Summer and hello to autumn reading plans!
Brian Moore’s 100th birthday was this week and I’m continuing my centenary read-along with his 1981 novel The Temptation of Eileen Hughes. The Temptation of Eileen Hughes is another of Moore’s lean character studies, with a tight focus on a few characters and a moment of crisis which upends several lives. It lacks some of…
Read more No 407 The Temptation of Eileen Hughes by Brian Moore Book 19 of #20booksofsummer
By Crooked Cat author, Val Penny
Energy with Positive Purpose
There is nothing more satisfying than reading a book while sipping a hot cup of tea.
A classic is a book that has never finished saying what it has to say. – Italo Calvino
Pillaging the public library so you don't have to.
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