The Thursday Murder Club, by Richard Osman (2020)

Richard Osman is one of those affable, gentle types who I'm sure started out somewhere in comedy and rose to TV ubiquity whilst I was on holiday or something. Since conquering TV-land I suppose the next logical frontier is publishing. So great is Osman's star that, I believe, a 6 or 7 figure bidding war …

Murder on the Orient Express by Agatha Christie (1934)

Whilst at the end of a trip to Syria Poirot is called back to London on urgent business. He secures a compartment on the Orient Express and sets upon his long west-ward journey from Istanbul. The carriages are unusually full, so says the Director of The Train Operator, M. Bouc, friend and confidante of M …

Utopia Avenue by David Mitchell (2020)

Hope you're all sitting down because I'm actually going to review a book that creeps into this decade! So, a book club read - not one I would have chosen. You can imagine my dismay then when I saw the mountainous pile on the table. This is a vast book - something like over 500 …

Year End Round Up: Part 1

Oh hi. You may remember me. I used to read books and share my half baked ideas with the world. After my rather fabulous trip to Europe (which I only got round to sharing half of - think there’s a pattern emerging) I got super busy with work and writing. And the house. We’re at …

The Scarlet Pimpernel by Emmuska Orczy (1905)

Well! What a fun old time was had here. Let me take you back to the French Revolution in 1792. The women were beautiful, the men handsome and fearless, the French were scoundrels. These are the perilous tales of one secret agent and his brave band of loyal followers rescuing the French aristocracy who are …

The Last House on Needless Street by Catriona Ward (2021)

This book made me sick. Honestly, the first few pages and I wasn't even sure how I was going to get through it all. The reason it made me sick was because of the gut wrenching, not sure where it's going and how it's going to end kind of a way. It's the same way …

Belinda, by Maria Edgeworth (1801)

Published in 1801 this little tome is much the same as many other books that followed in its wake in terms of themes of marriage, friendships, family and coming of age. But then it's also quite different. Young Belinda Portman is sent, by her Aunt Stanhope, to stay with Lady Delacour in London. Lady Delacour …

Vile Bodies, by Evelyn Waugh

Now, bear with me whilst it may seem that I'm starting off on a bit of a tangent (if that's even possible). By a quirk of fate I read recently a review of Paris Hilton's new Netflix series about her cooking. In a kitchen. I watched her first foray into this arena on Youtube and …

Once Upon a Time…

My reading material is somewhat mimicking life currently as I lurch precariously from one genre to another. Jane Austen to Quentin Tarantino? Is that even possible? It is, yes, when Tarantino's first novel ascends the world's stage. I love Quentin Tarantino. It's no secret. I will bore anyone and everyone about why I think he …

Translations

Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoyevsky. Where to begin? Well, most people would pick up a copy and turn to the first page. Not so simple in the world of Dostoyevsky, Russian literature and translations. What it seems to boil down to is how to capture the very essence of the writing. So, it's not …

India

More by accident than design I have embarked on some books this year which are set in, or refer to, this great continent. Miss Marjoribanks makes reference to Tom, Lucilla's cousin, who travels there to make something of himself. Despite Oliphant's extensive travels I'm not sure she made it to those shores herself. The second …

Miss Marjoribanks (1866), Margaret Oliphant

We meet Miss Marjoribanks at two periods of her life with an intermission of 10 years. In the first part of the book we arrive at the point her mother dies and she sets about making it her aim in life to be a comfort to her dear papa. A time limit of 10 years …

Author: Margaret Oliphant (1828-1897)

I was musing in my previous post about Margaret Oliphant's lack of visibility on the Victorian Author's Stage. We are so well versed in the stories of those female authors who died young, unwed and childless (an intentional sweeping generalisation) that there seems to be little room left for those authors who have the temerity …

Miss Marjoribanks, by ME Oliphant (1866). Part I

You know that squidgy stuff you squirt into wall cavities and it grows and grows and grows, filling the hole? Yeah, you know what I mean? I know, let's call it expanding foam....well, I think I've found the book equivalent. As part of the Classic 50 challenge I scoured online shops, poached ideas from other …

Chess aka The Royal Game (Schachnovelle), by Stefan Zweig (1942)

Towards the end of A Clockwork Orange there is the memorable scene in which Alex is subjected to Aversion Therapy. He is injected with nausea-inducing drugs, his eyes are pinned open and he is forced to watch images of sex and violence, all the while listening to Beethoven. Without dwelling on The Current Situation too …

Protected: ‘Secretly’ Mansfield Park, by Jane Austen (1814)

There is no excerpt because this is a protected post.

Mansfield Park, by Jane Austen (1814)

Written after 'Pride and Prejudice' it does make you wonder if it was a tough act to follow. If asked I'm sure that 'Mansfield Park' would be far down the list of novels by Jane Austen that people would name. 'Sense and Sensibility' probably followed by 'Emma' might nudge their way to the forefront of …

A Tale of Two Cities, Charles Dickens

Written in 1859 this work of historical fiction recounts events of the French Revolution in the last quarter of the 18th Century. However, it is also reflective of the great social change sweeping through Europe in the 19th Century and, in some ways, should have been a cautionary tale for those nations whose monarchs were …

Christmas Reading Challenge

So, how did I do? Well, I managed a fairly respectable 14 and three quarters. Only let down at the last minute by embarking on a book that was deceptively chunky. However, I imagine I'll finish it by the weekend. I really enjoyed this challenge and I'm already on the lookout for books, suitably themed, …

Murder on Christmas Eve, classic mysteries for the Christmas season (CRC#14)

In the run up to Christmas The Guardian posted a couple of articles about writing stories for Christmas and a top 10 of Christmas crime stories. I'm hopeful that I can get my hands on one or two of the titles before next year. In the meantime here's a quick overview of this collection of …