The Making of Mr. Gray’s Anatomy: Bodies, Books, Fortune, Fame by Ruth Richardson

Reviewed by Caroline Rance A century and a half after its publication, Gray’s Anatomy is a familiar title even to those of us without a medical credential to our name. Now in its 40th edition and much expanded over the years, it retains the clarity and detail that set its original version apart from the [...]

Read Full Post »

Sandra Newman and Howard Mittelmark: How Not To Write A Novel: 200 mistakes to avoid at all costs if you ever want to get published.

I am not sure why I wanted to read this book (except that, as so often, I was reeled in by the witty cover – a handgun pointed at a sweet fluffy kitten. It turns out that examples of the masterly or inept handling of Fluffy’s fate feature from time to time). I am not [...]

Read Full Post »

My Father and Other Working-Class Heroes: Gary Imlach.

A Review by Ken Owen My Father and Other Working-Class Heroes seeks to recreate a world that is alien to the sports fan of today. Though TV was making its first forays into sports broadcasting, and some of the first sporting superstars were emerging, the players themselves operated in a different world to today’s multi-millionaires. [...]

Read Full Post »

The Pluto Files by Dr. Neil DeGrasse Tyson

Part of VL’s celebration of the International Year of Astronomy Anyone who has seen Dr. Tyson on TV, either on a documentary, PBS NOVA program or a talk show has to admire his intelligence and enthusiasm. He can take complex subjects and make them understandable without being condescending and conveys his excitement about it in [...]

Read Full Post »

Coming Up on Vulpes Libris

If there was a theme to this week on VL, it would be busy-ness, topics that preoccupy people in various ways. We’ve got astronomy and anatomy, deities, language, football and novel writing. Jackie scopes out the controversy that happened when Dr. Neil DeGrasse Tyson demoted a planet in The Pluto Files on Monday. Tuesday, Ken [...]

Read Full Post »

Grace by Alex Pheby + Giveaway

I had two over-arching concerns during my late teens and early twenties. The first was socialism. The second was sex. It is a popular misconception that women of the early twentieth century were politically and sexually disinterested. In my experience nothing could have been further from the truth. The most committed radicals in both fields [...]

Read Full Post »

Why I hate Twilight

… let me count the ways… Okay, this was always going to be a contentious idea, to write a piece about why I hate a book.  I mean, it’s all subjective isn’t it? One man’s meat and all that. And I just don’t go round willy nilly hating books, and I certainly don’t talk about [...]

Read Full Post »

Drama Queen by Susan Conley

I have long intended to read a book from the Little Black Dress imprint, so thank you Vulpes, for giving me the opportunity! Jane Boyers is a top New York TV producer who thinks she has it all – the swanky clothes, a carnal relationship with the boss – she even has an Emmy award. [...]

Read Full Post »

No blacks, some dogs, lots of Irish: Paddy on the railroad

Review of An Irish Navvy, Donall MacAhmlaigh, translated by Valentin Iremonger In the preface to The Making of the English Working Class, E. P. Thompson apologizes to the Scots and the Welsh for limiting his book to the English, but includes Irish immigrants, devoting twelve pages of the book to `The Irish’, and noting Irish [...]

Read Full Post »

The Devil is in the Details: Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons’ Watchmen

by Kari Maaren. This Friday, several million extremely obsessed people will be heading eagerly to theatres to catch the opening of Jack Snyder’s Watchmen, a movie that several million other people who are not at all obsessed will probably be rolling their eyes at and calling “yet another superhero flick.” Both reactions are understandable. The [...]

Read Full Post »