Tag Archives: Nancy Mitford

What is a Novella? #NovNov

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

This week’s #NovNov prompt is ‘What is a novella?’, and invites bloggers to share their definition of a novella (and/or list favourites). Continue reading →

Things that are making me happy this week

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

01. Wah! We had a special dinner booked at Farmer’s Daughters but had to pivot for Lockdown 6.0. Thank goodness for our Florentino feast from Providoor. Highlight was the Baccalà, but the arancini; duck tortellini with caramelised pear; slow-cooked beef cheek; Tiramisu; and cannoli were also delicious. Continue reading →

Three reviews from Mount TBR

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

I am really, really trying to finish the Mount TBR reading challenge this year. I generally hit a road block in March as I read the Stella Prize lists, and again in August when the Melbourne Writers Festival provides a lovely distraction and lots of new books. At my current rate, I’ll need to read five books per month from my TBR stack in order to hit the target. It’s doable…

So, three old-school Twitter* reviews of Mount TBR books I’ve read over the last month – Continue reading →

Nonfiction November – Book Pairings

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

It’s Nonfiction November, this week hosted by Sarah’s Book Shelves. The task? Pair up a nonfiction book with a fiction title.

I had so much fun with this topic last year and although I feared I’d exhausted my ideas, I’ve managed a few more pairings –

Ireland divided – Lost Lives by David McKittrick / Across the Barricades by Joan Lingard Continue reading →

Pigeon Pie by Nancy Mitford

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

Sophia Garfield had a clear mental picture of what the outbreak of war was going to be like. There would be a loud bang, succeeded by inky darkness and a cold wind. Stumbling over heaps of rubble and dead bodies, Sophia would search with industry, but without hope, for her husband, her lover and her dog.

And so begins Nancy Mitford’s satire, Pigeon Pie. Continue reading →

Six Degrees of Separation – from Picnic at Hanging Rock to Love in a Cold Climate

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

It’s time for #6degrees. It’s unquestionably the least demanding bookish meme on the interwebs, so join in!

This month we begin with Joan Lindsay’s Picnic at Hanging Rock (thanks to Brona for the suggestion). My first link is to Bruce Springsteen’s autobiography, Born to Run. That might seem an unlikely link but I’ve seen Springsteen twice in the last few years, and both times Hanging Rock was the backdrop. Continue reading →

Quick! I need to read a whole book.

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

Sometimes a very, very short book is just the ticket – reading slump, testing a new genre, choosing something for your book group (because you know they don’t have the stamina for anything over 200 pages), a long train ride…

Here’s a list of my favourite very short books. Continue reading →