Divergent by Veronica Roth

This will be the last post for a week.  Despite the fact that for Foxes chocolate is actually a poison, we are all taking the risk and will be consuming excessive amounts of Easter Eggs over the next few days.  Expect us to come lumbering back on the 2nd May feeling ever so slightly queasy, [...]

Read Full Post »

The Voices of Morebath: Reformation and Rebellion in an English Village, by Eamon Duffy

This book came into my house very highly recommended – er … ten years ago. Looking for something suitable to the season, I finally tried to read past Chapter 2, managed it – and have been rewarded by doing so. Health warning (knowing that there are historian Foxes out there) – I am approaching this [...]

Read Full Post »

Soapbox: Larger than Life Characters and the Curse of the “Relatable”

Like nearly everyone else I became hooked  on The Killing. The Danish drama series that held the country in thrall for 20 hour-long episodes was unusual in many ways. It was almost excruciatingly slow.  Not as gruesome as BBC4′s current European crime drama offering  – Spiral  (although admittedly I came to The Killing late, therefore [...]

Read Full Post »

The Gruffalo by Julia Donaldson. Illustrated by Axel Scheffler. Sound Book.

To buy a classic board book or to splash out on a flashy edition with ten different sound effects? The book snob in me says that no amount of bells and whistles can improve a classic children’s text and its beautiful illustrations, and yet the techie-loving side of me pointed out that sound effects including [...]

Read Full Post »

Coming up on Vulpes Libris

It’s Spring! Finally, and all at once. I saw my first bluebell last weekend, and now they’re everywhere. Lots to surprise and delight this week – in fact as many surprises as certainties right now (the Foxes have been taking their Spontaneity pills). So, hang on to your hats, and join us for the ride. [...]

Read Full Post »

The Last Letter from Your Lover by Jojo Moyes

RNA/Pure Passion Awards 2011. WINNER:  Romantic Novel of the Year. At the 2011 Romantic Novelists’ Association/Pure Passion Awards ceremony last month, Jojo Moyes‘ The Last Letter from your Lover won  the coveted ‘Romantic Novel of the Year’ award. The three judges of the award were Amanda Craig, author and book reviewer, fiction buyer for Waterstone’s [...]

Read Full Post »

Long Time Coming by Robert Goddard – where the end is rather too long in coming …

Eldritch Swan is a dead man. Or at least that is what his nephew Stephen has always been told. Until one day Swan walks back into his life after thirty-six years in an Irish prison. He won’t say why he was locked up – only that he is innocent of any crime. His return should [...]

Read Full Post »

Pure Passion at the Liberal Club

This doesn’t pretend to be a definitive record of the 2011 RNA/Pure Passion Awards ceremony.  It is, rather, a very personal (and highly idiosyncratic)  ‘view from here’ – but I hope I’ve managed to convey just a little of how (slightly) surreal, entertaining, friendly and completely knackering it all was … MKB. ~~~:~~~ It’s hard [...]

Read Full Post »

Coming up on Vulpes Libris

I feel a little like there’ll be no one reading this post as the weather is so divine. You really ought to be out soaking up the rays and dancing in fields while you can. But for those of you with portable technology or an aversion to sunlight, just look what we’ve got coming up [...]

Read Full Post »

Hattori Hachi: Stalking the Enemy by Jane Prowse

Review by Leopold Benedict Last year, Jay Benedict and Moira Briggs (technically both adults, although their families might have something to say on the subject) enjoyed themselves far too much reviewing the first instalment of Jane Prowse’s Hattori Hachi trilogy – The Revenge of Praying Mantis. For Stalking the Enemy however, they agreed (after a [...]

Read Full Post »