Merry Christmas Eve! Three books about ghosts…

It’s that time of year again. The time when we find ourselves seated in front of a rerun of the Great Escape, paper hat askew on our heads, torn wrapping paper round our ankles and ask ourselves (tearfully because of the sherry) about the true meaning of Christmas. Is it really a celebration of the [...]

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That’s (almost) all, folks …

Good grief.  The Vulpes year seems to have run its course.  However did that happen? I mean, I’ve only just got the hang of writing ‘2011’ on cheques (yes, I still write cheques, reactionary curmudgeon that I am …) and here I am suddenly facing the whole new challenge of ‘2012’. It’s been a vintage [...]

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An Interview with Jane Juska.

“Before I turn 67 – next March – I would like to have a lot of sex with a man I like. If you want to talk first, Trollope works for me.” Thus ran the advertisement that Jane Juska placed in the lonely hearts column of The New York Review of Books.  She was inundated [...]

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And I quote: “Argh …”

We’ve just received an anguished message from Our Kirsty, sent from a borrowed iPhone.  Her internet connection is dead with no immediate hope of resuscitation, so this week’s second helping of Sophie Kinsella will have to be postponed to a later date. Sorry, peeps … Next up will be Jane Juska talking about lengthy on-stage [...]

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The Tennis Party by Madeleine Wickham: a book where I really didn’t love all

It’s a sunny summer Saturday and four couples gather for a weekend of tennis. Meet the tournament hosts: self-made man Patrick and his brash and beautiful wife Caroline, out to impress with their new country house. Meet the guests: Stephen and Anne, their impoverished former neighbours; social climber Charles and his aristocratic new wife Cressida; [...]

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Avant Garde a Clue

Discover the Extraordinary World of Paul Déaveroin  by  Isskott Belsohn (Edited by Timothy Bentinck and Albert Welling) When Tim Bentinck, all innocence, asked me if I thought Avant Garde a Clue might be of any interest to the Vulpes Libris readers, he gave little indication as to what it was about much beyond saying “It [...]

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Christmas Carols and Songs

One of the best things about this time of year is the music. I look forward to Dec. 1st, when I begin playing my many Christmas albums, from Celtic instrumentals with nature sounds to Burl Ives and Josh Groban. Late on Christmas Eve, I’ll turn out all the lights except for the Christmas tree, put [...]

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Coming up on Vulpes Libris

Before the Book Foxes sign off for 2011, let it not be said that we don’t know how to leave with a bang! We’ve a packed week for you, so take time off from the stress of present buying, wrapping and the general social whirlwind that is December and enjoy what we have to offer… [...]

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The Missing of the Somme, by Geoff Dyer

I have been reading quite a bit about the Great War this year, and one book has led to another, most lately to Geoff Dyer’s extended essay on war and remembrance The Missing of the Somme. I found it articulated ideas and emotions around war in general and the wars of the 20th century in [...]

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Burning Bright by Ron Rash – of pain and perfection

Jacob and Edna have fallen on hard times. They haven’t lost everything the way others have, but they have lost enough. When one of their hens stops laying eggs, it seems like the final straw. Jacob is determined to solve the mystery. What he discovers is as heartbreaking as it is revelatory. This is just [...]

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