Spider-Woman kicks it all over the street
Some time ago I wrote about Spider-Woman. After a healthy reminder of how good female superheroes can be from Wonder Woman, I went and bought two more Spider-Woman collections, Civil … Continue reading
Coming up on Vulpes Libris: Castles, strong, stable castles
Well, what a week for British politics. But let’s not go down that inviting leafy trail where arguments will soon break out about who gave out the wrong directions and … Continue reading
Frank O’Connor: An Only Child & My Father’s Son
I started reading this pair of autobiographies by the Irish short story writer and giant among modern Irish literature, Frank O’Connor, without really knowing much about him. I’d read some … Continue reading
Vulpes Random: On marking a poetry exam
I collect my share of the poetry exam scripts, put them in my bike pannier, and cycle home. I put them on the table, close my laptop to avoid distracting emails, find … Continue reading
Hidden Figures, by Margot Lee Shetterly
Hidden Figures is a tremendous pun. It means the women who worked for NASA from the 1940s to send people into space and back again. It also means the numbers … Continue reading
May the Fourth be with you
How do I love thee, Star Wars? Let me count the ways …. Yoda’s syntax. Han Solo (always). Chewy can put androids back together again with furry paws. Leia takes … Continue reading
Coming Up: Science Fiction Week
This is the week of May the Fourth, so the Foxes are rolling around joyously in the mixed metaphors and timeless plots of science fiction. But what is science fiction? … Continue reading
Coming Up this week on Vulpes Libris
The bluebells and the wood anenomes in Hallerbos, a wood south of Brussels near Waterloo, are cranking up their colours. The daffodils in my garden are leaning at an angle … Continue reading
Ladybird Books
The Museum of English Rural Life is a fantastic small museum. It’s in Reading in the UK (part of the university), and has just reopened its exhibiting spaces after a … Continue reading
The historical fictions that history tells us
The Historical Fictions Research Network had its second conference this weekend, in the splendid surroundings of the National Maritime Museum in Greenwich, home of the Meridian, south-east London. The Network … Continue reading
Let’s celebrate the migrant authors of English literature
One Day Without Us is a British grassroots campaign to celebrate the contributions that EU citizens and migrants from all over the world make and have made to daily British … Continue reading
Giovanni’s Room
I took part in a book pyramid scheme recently. It was a send-it-back, upside-down-tree-connections thing, running through Facebook. My friend D recruited me, so I sent a book to her … Continue reading
Amazing Grace
This 2007 biography of the anti-slavery campaigner and British politician of the eighteenth century, William Wilberforce, begins with a foreword from the then President of Wilberforce University, which he describes … Continue reading
Nine St Andrew’s Night Novels
St Andrew’s Night is the lesser-known Scottish cultural festival. The big one is, of course, Burns’ Night, on 25 January, and is usually a feast, with poetry and music. St … Continue reading
Recent Comments