Happy New Year: 2021 Round Up

I feel this is the first time in a while I've been able to sit at a reasonably clear desk and take a bit of a breather from events of the past few weeks. It's been a busy old time for sure but now with the New Year getting into its stride it's good to …

The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne (1850)

Published in 1850 Hawthorne picks up the historical fiction baton and writes about the Puritans who came to America in the 1600s. The story opens with a description of the outside of a prison. Quite an auspicious beginning. It is revealed that a young woman will be passing through the doors into the public gaze …

The Last Tycoon, F. Scott Fitzgerald (1940)

From the Gilded Age, of the previous post, to the Golden Age of Hollywood, The Last Tycoon is the final, unfinished novel by the author F Scott Fitzgerald. Published posthumously in 1941, we are told the story of Monroe Stahr, one of the great movie producers of the golden age of cinema, through the eyes …

The Age of Innocence, Edith Wharton (1920)

I imagine that when an author sets out to write something they do so to amuse themselves and hope that somewhere along the way someone else might enjoy it as well. Wharton's expectations were perhaps exceeded when this 1920 novel by her won the prestigious Pulitzer Prize in 1921. A surprising and somewhat controversial decision, …