As part of my month of Reading the Theatre, I wanted to read one or more plays. And when I started reading The Incomparable Rex, about Rex Harrison and the American revival of My Fair Lady in the 1970s, I became curious to read the source material for the musical: George Bernard Shaw's play, Pygmalion. … Continue reading Tales in transformation: Pygmalion
I always look forward to March Magics, hosted by We Be Reading, a celebration of two favorite fantasy authors -- Diana Wynne Jones and Terry Pratchett. This year I wanted to tie in my reading to my own Reading the Theatre event, so I looked for a book with a theatrical component. Original UK edition … Continue reading Performing magic: The Magicians of Caprona
When I announced my Reading the Theatre project, Chris of Calmgrove kindly offered to contribute a guest post on Milton's Comus, an oddity of English literature that I've heard of but never read in full. It first came to my attention in the pages of E. Nesbit's Wet Magic, in which the lines beginning "Sabrina … Continue reading A curious piece of theatre (Guest post)
Here's another Reading the Theatre post from Staircase Wit, about the "Gemma" books by Noel Streatfeild. You may not have heard of this series, which is less well known than her "Shoes" books, but it's worth searching out if you can, for another variation on the theme of performing children that Streatfeild did so well. … Continue reading Gemma and company at Staircase Wit
Last month I read two books that serendipitously contained the same quotation, taken as inspiration by two very different creative artists. The first instance was in Dance to the Piper, Agnes de Mille's wonderful memoir of her early years of struggle as a dancer and choreographer, which includes portraits of several notable figures in the … Continue reading Martha Graham’s inspiring words on creativity and individuality
Two bloggers have posted great lists of "books with characters with theatrical jobs" to add to your TBR -- I know mine is growing by the day! Check them out at She Reads Novels and Calmgrove. What other books could you suggest on this topic? Some of the books from Helen's list at She Reads … Continue reading Reading the Theatre: Books with theatrical characters
Welcome to a month of Reading the Theatre! I'm planning to have a blast this month with one of my favorite reading themes, so I hope you will indulge me, or even -- in the best-case scenario -- join in to share what inspires your own enthusiasm. I wanted to start out by collecting all … Continue reading Reading the Theatre: The story so far
After enjoying several Slightly Foxed publications with my teenage son, I asked if SF would like us to review something from their set of historical novels by Ronald Welch. The twelve Carey Family novels explore British history through the eyes of members of a single family, from the Crusades to the First World War. It's … Continue reading A brush with history: The Carey Novels
This week's Top Ten Tuesday Topic is "Books published before I was born." But I decided to change it to "Books published the year I was born," because there are so many incredible ones! 1969 was quite a year, in many ways. Here are five books I have read, five more I'd like to read, … Continue reading Top Ten Books Published the Year I Was Born
My reading pace varies, but I usually finish between three and twelve books per month. I've gone through phases in my life where I record at least the title and author of every book, and since I started blogging seven years ago, I've kept that up. I've never written a review or even jotted notes … Continue reading Do you write about every book you read?
