We Have Always Lived in the Castle by Shirley Jackson
Somewhere in the East Coast of America, in a small town familiar to non-Americans from films such as Hitchcock’s The Trouble with Harry, the survivors of a highly dysfunctional family … Continue reading
The Sleeper Awakes by H.G. Wells
I always seem to join in the Vulpes Libris Theme Weeks with the caveat that I don’t usually get on with the theme in question – c.f. our weeks on … 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
The Bookshop, by Penelope Fitzgerald
I am very much enjoying exploring a new literary landscape: East Anglia, the land of fens, floods and enormous skies. My exploration started with Sylvia Townsend Warner’s The Corner That … Continue reading
A Norfolk Literary Crossroads (a Vulpes Libris Random)
Sylvia Townsend Warner’s novel The Corner That Held Them (which I love with a passion – though it does divide opinion, as Bookfox Simon will attest) is set in the … Continue reading
Kindred by Octavia E. Butler
Dana is a twenty-six year old black woman living in California in 1976. She is married to Kevin, who is white, and who rejected his racist family to marry Dana. … Continue reading
Owen Archer mysteries by Candace Robb
One of the periods I like to read about most is the Middle Ages. No, not that time in your forties when you’re no longer young, but don’t yet qualify … Continue reading
The House on the Strand (or: my struggle with historical fiction)
Oh dear. It seems that I always volunteer myself as the contrary voice for Vulpes theme weeks – or, at least, that’s what I did back when I was just a … Continue reading
The gentle joy of R.C. Sherriff
I recently read two novels by R.C. Sherriff in fairly quick succession – The Fortnight in September (1931) and Greengates (1936) – having never read anything by him before; they were the … Continue reading
The Weatherhouse by Nan Shepherd and The Hills is Lonely by Lillian Beckwith
I picked up Nan Shepherd’s The Weatherhouse as I walked through Waterstones in Glasgow, attracted by its striking cover and intrigued by the opening sentence of its blurb – “The … 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
Five “Claudine” novels by Colette
When I was fifteen, I was Claudine. Why not? I was rebellious and had chestnut curls. I read and reread my literary auntie’s lovely copy of Colette’s Claudine at School … Continue reading
What Makes Us Laugh
In these cloudy days of winter and gloomy current events, sometimes we need not just lighter fare, but something that sends us over the top into glee. The Foxes have … Continue reading
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