Want something ABSOLUTELY GRIPPING? Read Patrick Radden Keefe’s latest work of narrative nonfiction, London Falling. Continue reading
Tag Archives: British
Things That Are Making Me Happy This Week
01. MIFF program release! As always, planning what to see requires a little effort (250+ films running over three weeks). On my list are Yellow Letters, The Incomer, Blue Heron and How to Divorce During the War (plus dozens of others). Continue reading
Blank Canvas by Grace Murray
I’m always drawn to campus-lit, so I didn’t need much convincing for Grace Murray’s debut, Blank Canvas. And then I read the blurb –
…Charlotte begins her final year with a lie. Her father died over the summer, she says. Heart attack. Very sudden. Charlotte had never been close with her classmates but as she repeats her tale, their expressions soften into kindness.
– and I carried the book straight to the counter (at the always lovely Ramona Books). Continue reading
Hunger & Thirst by Claire Fuller
Unexplained noises, flickering lights, gut-churning odours, eating flies, bite marks on pale skin, missing tools, an abandoned house… Hunger & Thirst by Claire Fuller is loaded with gothic elements. Continue reading
The Place of Tides by James Rebanks
I wish I could spend a summer on a remote Norwegian island, waiting for ducks to arrive.
James Rebanks describes the months he spent with Anna, a ‘duck woman’ in his memoir, The Place of Tides. Continue reading
Helm by Sarah Hall
Helm by Sarah Hall was my book group’s last pick. Our host, the wonderful Katie at Ramona Books, sent out a reminder email which made me laugh –
Helm, or Hmmm? … I’ll be pouring generously for all who managed to wade through.
In summary, it’s a story spanning hundreds of years, told from many perspectives, including that of a most unusual narrator – the wind. More specifically, the wind is the Helm, a strong, cold, northeasterly Foehn wind that blows down the slopes of Cross Fell in Cumbria, England. Helm is the only officially named wind in the British Isles and it is notorious for bringing freezing temperatures, roaring noise, and wrecking damage across the valley. Continue reading
Latest Listens
Love Machines by James Muldoon Continue reading
Things That Are Making Me Happy This Week
01. I’m not overstating when I say that Opera Australia’s Orpheus & Eurydice was the most incredible production I’ve seen in thirty years (the previous benchmark being Barrie Kosky’s 1995 production of Nabucco). (image) Continue reading
Novellas in November – a mixed bunch
I have been very slow to review the novellas I read for #NovNov25, so some quick reviews (and there’s still another bunch to come). Continue reading
Literary Wives Club: The Soul of Kindness by Elizabeth Taylor
Toward the end of the bridegroom’s speech, the bride turned to the side to throw crumbs of wedding cake to doves outside the marquee.
Although she had caused a little rustle of amusement among the guests, she did not know it: her husband was embarrassed by her behaviour and thought it early in their married life to be so: but she did not know that either.
And that is how we meet Flora, the bride and protagonist of Elizabeth Taylor’s The Soul of Kindness. Continue reading