Posted in Entries by Jackie, Fiction: humour, fiction: mystery, tagged mysteries, Victorian England, poison on June 23, 2008 | 5 Comments »
This is a perfect example of a cozy mystery. The characters frequently repair to a book-lined library, where they have tea and toast before a warm fire while it snows outside. If that isn’t cozy, I don’t know what is.
The Victorian library belongs to wealthy amateur detective Charles [...]
Posted in Entries by Moira, Fiction: fantasy, Fiction: humour, Fiction: romance, Fiction: science fiction, tagged Nick Harkaway, post-apocalypse, Wodehouse, The Gone-Away World, John le Carre on May 31, 2008 | 10 Comments »
The Jorgmund Pipe is on fire, and Gonzo Lubitsch and his Haulage & Hazmat Emergency Civil Freebooting Company have been employed to deal it.
The Jorgmund Pipe - what it is, who created it, what it transports and why it exists at all - is the whole raison d’être of The Gone-Away World, the debut novel [...]
Posted in Entries by Lisa, Fiction: humour, Fiction: women's, tagged How to Kill your Husband, Kathy Lette, Simon and Schuster on May 28, 2008 | 5 Comments »
“All husbands think they’re gods. If only their wives weren’t atheists.”
I wanted to love this novel. Kathy Lette is a brilliant comedian and How to Kill your Husband came highly recommended by a friend. Plus, with a title like this one, how could I possibly not read it? (if only to leave it around to [...]
Posted in Entries by Jackie, Fiction: humour, fiction: mystery, tagged humor, Ireland, libraries, mysteries on April 28, 2008 | 4 Comments »
Delightful! That’s the perfect word to describe Ian Sansom’s first book in his Mobile Library series. It’s rambling, conversational style is full of asides, amusing details and sound effects. Humor abounds on every page, sometimes a chuckle, other times, literally laughing out loud.
Londoner Israel Armstrong applies for a job [...]
Posted in Entries by Moira, Fiction: general, Fiction: humour, Fiction: literary, Fiction: women's, Poetry: Humorous, tagged Gifts for Mother's Day, mother, Mothering Sunday, presents on February 28, 2008 | 6 Comments »
As an introduction to a week of Mother’s Day-themed items starting on Monday, the Den have put their little vulpine heads together and come up with a list of last-minute gift buys for mothers (or alternatively, you can just buy them for yourself …).
Leena says: Rachel Cusk’s Arlington Park and The Lucky Ones will [...]
Posted in Entries by Rosy, Fiction: humour on February 23, 2008 | 13 Comments »
I first heard of The Suicide Shop on Scott Pack’s Me and My Big Mouth Blog.
A coal-black comedy. (Sounded good to me.) About death and happiness. (Intriguing). From a new small publisher Gallic Books. (Fancying myself as somewhat of an outsider, I also am irrationally drawn to the idea of new small publishers.)
The first ten [...]
Posted in Entries by Emma, Fiction: historical, Fiction: humour, Fiction: romance, Fiction: women's, tagged Emma's reviews, Georgette Heyer, humour, Regency, romance, Wodehouse on February 15, 2008 | 12 Comments »
Like most innovators, Georgette Heyer suffers by association with her imitators, descendants and plagiarists. But to dismiss her as all bonnets and heaving bosoms is like dismissing Wodehouse because he writes about toffs and pigs: both are peerless at what they do, and millions of readers have encountered these worlds, and settled down for good. [...]
Posted in Entries by Moira, Fiction: humour, Fiction: romance, Fiction: women's, tagged Kate Lace, Catherine Jones, skiing, Little Black Dress, chalet girl on January 25, 2008 | 8 Comments »
“You SHALL go to the ball … !”
I don’t know one end of a pair of skis from the other. Actually - I lie. The front is the end that sticks up - right?
The Chalet Girl - Kate Lace’s first book for Headline’s Little Black Dress imprint - is not therefore a title that [...]
Posted in Entries by Lisa, Entries by Rosy, Fiction: humour, Interviews: publishers, tagged Lisa Glass, Rosy Barnes, Scott Pack, The Friday Project, Me And My Big Mouth, Clare Christian, The Equivoque Principle by Darren Craske, Caroline Smailes., In Search of Adam on January 16, 2008 | 24 Comments »
US AND OUR BIG MOUTHS…
Lisa Glass and Rosy Barnes talk to Scott
Pack of The Friday Project.
Scott says: Right. I have a cuppa, a Tunnocks and some biccies. I am all yours.
Lisa says: Hello!
Scott says: Hello!
Rosy has been added to the conversation.
Rosy says: Hello! I’m here!
Lisa says: There she is.
Scott says: Indeed she [...]
Posted in Entries by Leena, Entries by Lisa, Entries by Rosy, Fiction: humour, Fiction: women's, tagged Rosy Thornton, feminism, Hearts and Minds, More Than Love Letters, Cambridge, Headline Review on January 9, 2008 | 16 Comments »
Plot Synopsis and Overview
Television-man and Desmond Lynam lookalike James Rycarte arrives for his new job: as “Mistress” of an all-woman’s Cambridge college, the fictitious St Radegunds.
Here he finds himself beset by problems: the library is falling down, the students are on strike, research stipends cut, and he is swamped by divided committees where the fiery [...]
