Street Fighting Years: an autobiography of the sixties by Tariq Ali

At last the door opened.  Two men walked in, sat opposite me and started asking me questions in Spanish.  I repeated several times that I did not speak the language.  One of them spoke English and muttered in classic B-movie style that ‘we have ways of making you speak Spanish’.  I replied calmly that I [...]

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Adventure Divas by Holly Morris

Calling someone a diva nowadays is usually considered an insult. It insinuates the person is spoiled, pampered, difficult, someone such as singer Mariah Carey. A person whose idea of “adventure” might be which 5 star restaurant they would dine at. So it was the title, as well as the scuffed hiking boots on the cover, [...]

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Coming up on Vulpes Libris …

This week, the keen vulpine gaze is being turned on uncommon people – successful, controversial, colourful and talented (a lot like us, really …*cough*) – with a splash of death and destruction thrown in for a bit of light relief. ~~~o~~~ Monday: Jackie follows the remarkable women in Adventure Divas by Holly Morris. Tuesday: Kirsty [...]

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Before We Say Goodbye by Gabriella Ambrosio

“This is no life. Sooner or later it must finish.” It is seven a.m. on a spring morning in Jerusalem. Eighteen-year-old Dima trudges through the mud to college and reflects on many things, including her forthcoming marriage to her cousin Faris. Seventeen-year-old Myriam skips school to sit on the tree-lined hill overlooking the city and [...]

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What the hell are you doing? By David Shrigley

“Have a look at this book,” I said to one of my male relatives. He read a page, shook his head and said, “Dear dear. That is disgraceful.” But there was a smile flickering around the corners of his mouth. “Keep looking through it,” I said, and he did. “This is like the ramblings of [...]

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The Confession of Katherine Howard by Suzannah Dunn: or how to love a difficult man, Tudor-style

When twelve-year-old Katherine Howard comes to live in the Duchess of Norfolk’s household, poor relation Cat Tilney is deeply suspicious of her. The two girls couldn’t be more different: Cat, watchful and ambitious; Katherine, interested only in clothes and boys. Their companions are in thrall to Katherine, but it’s Cat in whom Katherine confides and, [...]

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Black Swan Green by David Mitchell

One thing you can say about David Mitchell is that he refuses to be put into a box. Although this is only the second book of his that I’ve ever read, I wouldn’t have thought it was by the same author as Cloud Atlas if this hadn’t been written on the front cover. That is [...]

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Dismembering the Male: men’s bodies, Britain and the Great War by Joanna Bourke

Showers of lead flying about & big big shells its an unearthy sight to see them drop in amongst human beings.  The cries are terrible, I escaped being hit but got caught in Barbe-wire & had blood poisoning & got buried once that caused me to have fits… & trip to France is nice but [...]

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Bats At the Library by Brian Lies

During a recent visit to one of my local libraries, I passed this book on a display in the children’s section. I like bats, so I couldn’t resist picking it up and when I got the gist of the story, it sent me giggling with glee. As you’ve guessed, it’s about a flock of bats [...]

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Coming up on Vulpes Libris – week beginning 2 August 2010

Despite entering the dog days of Summer, this week the foxes are in pursuit of the dark, the dangerous, the difficult and the downright peculiar (so not much change there then). On Monday Jackie is all aflutter about Bats at the Library by Brian Lies. On Tuesday Kirsty ventures into a different field as she [...]

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