A Most Uncommon Degree of Popularity: Kathleen Gilles Seidel St Martin’s Griffin, 2007

The title comes from ‘Emma’, and in some ways this is a comedy of manners, a different look at school life, friendship, working out what you want and need. The different perspective is because ( Read more... )

Hope you had a happy Easter!

Henrietta Sees It Through: Joyce Dennys, Bloomsbury 2010

This is a sequel to Henrietta’s War, which I read almost five years ago, during lockdown. This time around, I felt some more distance from the wartime characters and their privations. It covers 1942-45, ending, with qualified hope, just after V.E. Day.

Henrietta is ( Read more... )

As it happens, I saw a copy of this book (a more modern reprint) at a charity shop today.

The Far Country: Nevil Shute. Pan, 1967.

So, it looks as though I’ll be rereading all the Nevil Shute books that I have. That is, I assume this was a reread, and I must have last read it years ago, if I did, because it felt as though I came to it fresh. If you were to categorise this book, I suppose it would be as ( Read more... )

Happy new year! This is a review of the last book I read in 2024.

Sister Anne Resigns: Josephine Elder. Greyladies 2012

In a way, this is a career novel, but in another, ( Read more... )

A Tangled Web: L.M. Montgomery. Read Books, 2017.

The title of this novel is a bit of a misnomer, because it makes you think of the saying/proverb ‘What a tangled web we weave, when first we practice to deceive’ and this isn’t a story about deception, per se. Referencing ‘Blood is thicker than water’ might have made more sense, although I think the best title might have been ( Read more... )

The Thursday Murder Club: Richard Osman. Penguin, my copy was published in 2021.

Yes, years after everyone else, I have read ‘The Thursday Murder Club’ ( Read more... )

I see I'm getting round to this a day earlier than last year. Perhaps 'summary' is a better description than 'highlights.'

I read 49 books in 2023, a decent increase on last year, thanks in part to the Good Thing that happened at the end of April. The vast majority were by women and new to me, and had mainly been bought (mostly online) in 2020. But I returned properly to charity shops and bookshops, so I bought more random books, which have gone on my 'to be read' pile.

Most of the children’s books I read were Girls Own books, although a lot were mediocre and some subpar, and I didn’t bother posting about them (be grateful I didn’t review ‘A Girl Governess’ by A.E. Ward.) ( Read more... )

Here's hoping the best for 2024.

Prague in Black and Gold: Peter Demetz. Penguin, 1998.

I finally opened a non-fiction book and decided to try reading it one chapter at a time between other books, which may be the way to get through them. I bought this second hand in Prague itself, having fallen under the city's spell as a tourist. Its subtitle is ‘The History of a City’. ( Read more... ) [Edited for typos and clarity, 2/6/25.]

Happy new year! Here's my 2022 in books, tennis and some other things.

( Read more... )

Guard Your Daughters: Diana Tutton (The Reprint Society, 1954)

This post-war book rewards careful reading, and at times made me shout with laughter, ( Read more... )

My next post will probably be on The Great British Sewing Bee, but not, alas, on the TV coverage of the French Open.