Antonia White’s Frost in May
The advance publicity for this review of Antonia White’s 1933 novel Frost In May warns that I am enraged. I’d be amazed if anyone reading this novel is not similarly … Continue reading
Coming up on Vulpes Libris
Few of the BookFoxes have cubs living at home with them still, so we don’t have many opportunities to disembowel a pumpkin and carve its face and teeth. So I … Continue reading
Michael Haag’s The Durrells of Corfu
This is an exhaustively researched biography of the Durrell family (Gerry, Larry, Margot, Leslie and Mother, for those who know them from Gerald Durrell’s My Family and Other Animals). It’s … Continue reading
Don’t Panic, I’m Islamic. Words and Pictures on How to Stop Worrying and Learn to Love the Alien Next Door
I’d heard good things about this anthology before Vulpes Libris was offered a copy, so I grabbed it. It’s a miscellany from Saqi Books, consisting of dialogues, short stories, art … Continue reading
Penelope Lively’s Passing On
For most of my life the name Penelope Lively has meant The Whispering Knights, The Wild Hunt of Hagworthy, Astercote and The Ghost of Thomas Kempe, books I reread for … Continue reading
Coming Up this week on Vulpes Libris
Autumn is here. Definitely. I’m wearing socks, for goodness’ sake. Jumpers are out of the wardrobe. I’m thinking about putting gloves in the pockets of my coats. There is condensation … Continue reading
A is for Arsenic. The Poisons of Agatha Christie
It’s astonishing that this book had not been written before. It’s a study of the poisons deployed by Agatha Christie in a selection of her novels, written by a toxicologist … Continue reading
Christina Ward, Preservation: The Art and Science of Canning, Fermentation and Dehydration
This is a hefty Mid-West cookbook and instruction manual on how to preserve your fruit and veg in jars. It’s most definitely written for North Americans, by a Master Food … Continue reading
Coming Up on Vulpes Libris: Cookbooks
This morning I was picking black mulberries in my garden. This sounds very English, but it was in Brussels, though the tree was originally English. It was a present from friends … Continue reading
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
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