Tag Archives: historical

Helm by Sarah Hall

Posted by Kate W in Fiction and tagged with , , , , , , ,

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 →

Six Degrees of Separation – from Wuthering Heights to Constable’s Skies

Posted by Kate W in Stuff and Nonsense and tagged with , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

It’s time for #6degrees. Start at the same place as other wonderful readers, add six books, and see where you end up. Continue reading →

Private Revolutions by Yuan Yang

Posted by Kate W in Non-fiction and tagged with , , , , , , ,

I had a little crisis-of-age as I was reading Private Revolutions by Yuan Yang – I don’t think about my age much at all, however, this book that looked at the ‘history’ of the 1980s and 1990s made me think, gosh… that was thirty years ago!

Yang’s text examines China’s new social order through the lives of four ordinary women – June, Siyue, Leiya and Sam. Each was striving for a better future in a society that remained inherently unequal. Yang demonstrates that despite enormous economic gains, inequities in other aspects of everyday life were growing. Continue reading →

A Little Trickerie by Rosanna Pike

Posted by Kate W in Fiction and tagged with , , , , , ,

A Little Trickerie by Rosanna Pike was the latest pick for my book group. Have I mentioned my new book group? I love it. It’s hosted by a local independent book shop and we’ve had enough meetings now that faces are familiar. The format for the evening is basically – mingle; break into chat groups (light and casual at one end of the shop, deep-divers at the other – I hang with the deep-divers); then another little mingle and browse at the end of the evening.

In the mingling bit, one of the other deep-divers asked if I had liked the book (she hadn’t). I said I loved the chapter headings and this was greeted by shrieks of laughter. Yes, that sounds like a harsh review, but I genuinely liked the chapter headings – they were a great snapshot of Pike’s style of humour. Some favourites: Continue reading →