Blaming by Elizabeth Taylor Can a novel be charmingly poignant? Blaming certainly felt so. Amy and her husband Nick are on a summer holiday in Istanbul; it’s not an entirely fun trip but they’re making the best of it. When Nick dies unexpectantly, Martha – a fellow traveller – steps in ...
A list of good things in September
It’s mid-September. I’m reaching for the blanket of autumn, while still snatching every chance I get to enjoy the expansive freedom of summer. It’s an in-between time, caught between the pleasures of the last few months, and the hopes of the next. It takes me a while to settle comfortably into this ...
Everything I read in August
August was a wonderful month for reading - from mornings on the beach and afternoons by the pool to a deckchair in my garden at dusk. I had adventures on a naval sloop and met some magical people in seventeenth century Massachusetts and a feminist version of the Wild West! Probably Ruby by Lisa ...
Everything I read in June
Excellent Women by Barbara Pym I always feel at home in a Barbara Pym novel. So warm, witty, and familiar – a twentieth century Jane Austen. Excellent Woman was a very happy re-read for me and I enjoyed it immensely this time around. Mildred is one of those ‘excellent women’ who is ‘capable of ...
What I’ve listened to lately
What ever did we do before podcasts? Listen to the radio, I suppose. I still do that, but also love having the freedom to slip on my headphones and drift off to a different world whenever and wherever I choose. Here's where I've been lately... Shrines of Gaiety by Kate Atkinson – audiobook on ...