Books on Books – Reading – Writing
Robert Foster: The Complete Guide to Middle-earth
Blurb: For the millions who have already ventured to Middle-earth—and for the countless others who have yet to embark on the journey—here is the one indispensable A-to-Z guide that brings Tolkien’s universe to life. EVERY CHARACTER From Adaldrida Brandybuck to Zaragamba—every Hobbit, Elf, Dwarf, Man, Orc, and other resident of Middle-earth is vividly described and […]
Read MoreVladimir Nabokov: The Real Life of Sebastian Knight
Hoo boy. This starts out really nicely, as the story of two Russian half brothers growing up remote from each other (even though in the same home), from which beginning we segue more or less seamlessly into the surviving younger brother’s quest for the life and identity of his elder sibling, who under the English […]
Read MoreD.E. Stevenson: Miss Buncle’s Book
Next to the Golden Age mystery writers, another group of seemingly long-forgotten writers who seem to be experiencing a mini-renaissance in recent yeas are the women writers of the interwar years — Winifred Holtby, Angela Thirkell, Stella Gibbons, Dorothy Whipple, Mollie Panter-Downes, Miss Read, and, well, D.E. Stevenson are all seeing a renaissance of their […]
Read MoreVirginia Woolf and Vita Sackville-West: Love Letters
The final entry of my exploration of Vita Sackville-West’s life and literature, and part 2 of circling back to Virginia Woolf, here via the two writers’ personal relationship. Both writers’ letters had previously been published individually; so had their diaries — you’d think an edition collecting their correspondence with each other in one volume, […]
Read MoreVita Sackville-West: Selected Writings
An anthology giving a taste of every aspect of Sackville-West’s considerable oeuvre, from her memoirs and diaries, letters and travel writing to her literary criticism, her writing on gardening, her fiction (both longer works and short fiction), her poetry, and finally her reflection on animals (which she loved). I haven’t read the whole anthology yet […]
Read MoreVera Caspary: Laura
Blurb: In the doorway of an elegant New York apartment, blood seeps over silk negligee, over polished wood floors and plush carpet: a beautiful young woman lies dead, her face disfigured by a single gun shot. But who was Laura? What power did she hold over the very different men in her life? How does […]
Read MoreDenise Hamilton: Savage Garden
Blurb: Los Angeles Times reporter Eve Diamond has been looking forward to a romantic date with her new love, Silvio Angila, including an opening night at the theatre, cocktails, and the night ahead. But when the play’s leading lady, Catarina Velosi, fails to appear, Eve learns that she and Silvio share a complicated past. Despatched […]
Read MoreDorothy L. Sayers & Jill Paton Walsh: Thrones, Dominations
Blurb: It is 1936, and Lord Peter Wimsey has returned from his honeymoon to set up home with his cherished new wife, the novelist Harriet Vane. As they become part of fashionable London society, they encounter the glamorous socialite Rosamund Harwell and her wealthy impresario husband, Laurence. Unlike the Wimseys they are not in love […]
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