Today, over at Calmgrove the Witch Week post is a discussion of Joan Aiken's The Serial Garden, stories in which magic mixes with modern family life in a way that can be hilarious, creepy, or lyrical, or all of these and much more. I hope you'll enjoy our lengthy but fascinating discussion, which includes my … Continue reading Witch Week Day 5: Magical short stories
Dean Street Press books are almost always fun to read, but more fun in company with others! So when Liz started a "Dean Street December" event last year, I was happy to join in. In spite of the sad fact that due to the unexpected death of publisher Rupert Heath, no further books will be … Continue reading Dean Street December: The Fair Miss Fortune
These "clubs" happen twice a year, each time focusing on books published in a particular year between 1920 and 1980 or so. It's always so interesting to read the variety of reviews! Thanks so much to Simon and Karen for hosting. I don't always manage to be organized enough to join, but this time I … Continue reading #1962Club: A Murder of Quality
What? Prince Harry's royal tell-all Spare, a spiritual memoir? I admit that I did not initially pick it up as one. But as I read, it made me think about the role of royalty in regard to spirituality. For that alone, I decided to count it for my spiritual memoir challenge -- in the category … Continue reading Spiritual Memoir Review: Spare
When I picked out Thomasina to read for a cat-themed reading event at Literary Potpourri, all I knew about it was that the title character was a cat, and the author had also written Mrs 'Arris Goes to Paris, a book I'd recently enjoyed. I didn't pay attention to the subtitle ("the cat who thought … Continue reading #ReadingtheMeow2023: Thomasina
Hello! Sorry for disappearing this month. Everything is fine, just a bit hectic. I've been reading busily for Reading the Theatre, and will post mini-reviews at the end of the month. I also had a wonderful weekend trip to some artistic sites in France and Switzerland and I'll share those soon. I thought I'd come … Continue reading Beautiful Books: Neverwhere
The Dark Is Rising series readalong has reached its end, with the final volume in the series, Silver on the Tree. Although the book takes place at midsummer, it seems strangely appropriate for me to finish reading it on the winter solstice, when The Dark Is Rising begins. (I can't help thinking of that as … Continue reading #TDiRS22: All shall find the light at last
Alison Uttley, The Country Child (1931) In my last Make me read it poll, The Country Child by Alison Uttley edged out David Copperfield and The Scarlet Letter for the win. I'd had a hard time getting into the first chapter of this fictionalized memoir of the author's childhood in early 20th century Derbyshire, and … Continue reading You made me read it: The Country Child
This month Liz of Adventures in reading, running, and working from home had a fun idea: to read books published by Dean Street Press in December. If you don't already know, DSP has been unearthing classic mid-century women's fiction, Golden Age detective novels, and other overlooked treasures and publishing them in attractive new paperback and … Continue reading Four for Dean Street December
In our Dark Is Rising series readalong, we've reached the Newbery-award winning The Grey King. Why did this particular book out of the five win the award? I think Greenwitch is a stronger book, although each of them has its points. Now I know that the book was probably an example of the Death by … Continue reading #TDiRS22: Death by Newbery
