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The Chequer Board by Nevil Shute
I am very behind with my reading already this year -- normally by this time I've read at least four or five books, if not more. I really needed a fast read to get me inspired, so I turned to one of my...
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European Reading Challenge 2022
Time for another European Reading Challenge signup! As always, my goal is as many books as possible from my own shelves. The list is always tricky for me since the vast majority of the books on my TBR...
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The Peacock Spring by Rumer Godden (with bonus giveaway)
Cover of the 1975 edition, of which I now have 2 copiesAs I read a lot of middlebrow fiction, Rumer Godden is a writer that's been on my reading radar forever. Last year I was browsing on the cart...
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The Matador of the Five Towns by Arnold Bennett
Years ago while living in Texas I was at the Half-Price Books in San Antonio whereupon I found this bought this adorably wee little volume of short stories (6.5 x 5 inches/17 x 12.5 cm) by Arnold...
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The Comedy of Errors by William Shakespeare
Last May I wrote this post in which I described my desire to complete reading all of William Shakespeare's plays in a year. At the time, I'd only read a dozen of the 37 plays definitively attributed to...
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The New York Trilogy by Paul Auster: Metafiction Mysteries
Everyone knows that stories are imaginary. Whatever effect they might have on us, we know they are not true, even when they tell us truths more important than the ones we can find elsewhere. ("The...
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Castle Richmond by Anthony Trollope
It is impossible that these volumes should be graced by any hero, for the story does not admit of one. But if there were to be a hero, Herbert Fitzgerald would be the man. A Victorian novel by Anthony...
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Classics Spin #29
I've been very bad the past year or so about my Classics Club list -- I have thirteen books left on the list, and just about a year left to complete them! I did add several of them to the TBR Pile...
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Last Year When I Was Young by Monica Dickens
Wow, this cover is TERRIBLE. I'm not going to spend too much time on this post, because to be perfectly honest, I don't think anyone will read it -- it's about a book from the 1970s that no one has...
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The Mountain Lion by Jean Stafford: An NYRB Classic with a Dark Twist
Detail of "The Shower" by William Herbert Dunton. The original is in the American Museum of Western Art in Denver, ColoradoThe Mountain Lion is one of several unread NYRB Classics that have been...
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1954 Club: Jeeves and the Feudal Spirit by P. G. Wodehouse
It is both amusing and amazing to me that P. G. Wodehouse was able to recycle his own plots and characters over the course of his seventy year writing career. By my count, I've now read 25 of his...
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1954 Club: Who Was Changed and Who Was Dead by Barbara Comyns
Within a few weeks funerals were to become a common occurrence in that village; but at this time they were rather scarce and looked forward to eagerly.I've read several books by Barbara Comyns and was...
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Zoladdiction 2022: His Excellency Eugene Rougon
To his father he owed his massive, square shoulders and heavy features; from his mother, the fearsome Felicite Rougon, who ruled over Plassans, he had inherited his strength of will, a desire for...
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The World My Wilderness by Rose Macaulay
No civilization had lasted for more than a few thousand years; this present one, called western culture, had had its day and was due for wreckage, due for drowning, while the next struggled inchoate in...
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Big Book Summer Reading Challenge 2022
Time for another Big Book Summer Reading Challenge hosted by Suzan at Book by Book! Alas, I still have too many unread books. Let's see if I can shrink the pile just a little this summer. Here is my...
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A Pin To See the Peepshow by F. Tennyson Jesse
In the history of the world it is only we -- we who are young now -- who are really going to know about life. I bought this Virago Modern Classic more than five years ago, after Simon and Rachel...
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The Feast by Margaret Kennedy
Cover of a 1969 reprint. This one is pretty much perfect.So, how is everyone's summer reading going? Anyone in the mood for a beach read that turns out to be full of death and destruction? The Feast by...
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Paris in July 2022
It's July already, the year is half over -- how did this happen? But for me July will always include the Paris in July reading challenge hosted by Thyme for Tea. I started participating in this event...
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Paris in July: The Martha series by Margery Sharp
I thought I'd start Paris in July with a short, fun book. Margery Sharp's Martha in Paris fit the bill perfectly -- only 166 pages and it was one more I could cross off my owned-and-unread pile....
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Paris In July: Renoir, My Father by Jean Renoir
I am extremely pleased with myself for finally finishing this book! I bought it more than ten years ago on a visit to the Frick Museum in New York City, when I went to see an exhibit of Dutch masters....
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