new books reading list 2020
here we go again
January :
Nagy/Boquet: Medieval Sensibilities is much more theological than bargained for, am struggling to keep up. wanted a nice mentalities thingy, but as the contemporary medieval writings on emotion are all about Christian contemplative practices + they're building the book on contemp texts so there is So. Much. Theology. this is hard work to read.
Clery: Jane Austen the Banker's Sister economics in the life and works of JA. lots about brother henry (who gets skated over as disreputable in many JA biographies tho by all accounts he her fave bro)
Hicks: The King's Glass a study of tudor power and secret art account of the making of kings college chapel stainglass windows, which, lived in Cambridge a decade and only went to look couple times, sad now did not pay more attention. lot about guild vs furriners-taking-our-jobs strife, how political prestige won extra budgets, (god these issues - is this even history?) some info about glass-making process, was good read
penguin : the Happy Reader issue #13 meh
Grimm: Frog Prince picturebook version of story, wording functional, bought for jan ormerod illustrations
Walter: Ma Maman A Besoin De Moi fr language picturebook, got largely for the illustrations which this edition has diff artist + much nicer than the usa original ed
Taylor: An Atlas of Tudor England and Wales 40 plates from john speed's pocket atlas of 1627 king penguin bought cos nice edition cheap from Kempton pk fair. print eye squintingly small
Armstrong: Dances of Spain #2 north east and east little beautiful picturebook giving music and choreography, got, in my case, for the regional folkdress illus.
Briggs: Storm Cursed paranorm urban fantasy, werewolves
Dekker: The Tradition of Female Cross Dressing in Early Modern Europe not Europe, Holland. and not all early modern, largely 17th century. author v iffy and medicalising about transsexuals, treats them as freakshow
Sponsler: The Queen's Dumbshows john lydgate and the making of early theatre feel bait and switched by title - v little about theatre, much about public processions ritual rather than -what i expected - minstrel in hall stuff. topic interesting, treatment tedious beyond belief.
Gray: Strumpets and Ninnycocks name calling in devon 1540 - 1640 v listy and poorly organised in the way he presented the info. Am idiot who bought cos amusing title and topic. Disappointingly written, oxfammed.
Duffy: Voices of Morebath reformation and rebellion in an English village absorbing microhistory and less dry than expected. Been meaning to read for couple yrs, sorry i dragged feet as so good
Chen: Je Ne Vais Pas Pleurer French language picturebook about Chinese child lost at festival - loved the illus, v detailed but scratchy on light buff backdrop
Fyfe: Dances of Germany mini-book from 50s, bit of folk costume, bit of folkdance info, bit of musical score, bit of national stereotyping. v prettily produced books
Chambers: Gentleman Wolf 100 year old werewolf in Edinburgh in bagwig and red high heels, revenge plot, seemed fun concept. Book 1 of 2. Won't bother with 2. Hero tiresome.
Norwich: Four Princes henry viii francis I Charles v sulieman the magnificent and the obsessions that forged modern Europe superficial but pageturny and enjoyable.
Febuary:
Fleming: Perception why do I keep reading austen fanfics? why do authors who love JA repeatedly mary-sue up her bloody characters into niminy piminy chits who do not resemble the people in the books at all, and, trying for Georgian style vocabulary, use words similar to, but not meaning the same as, words they meant? why does nobody in these books behave like people rather than inhabitants of romancelandia? why do the emotional interactions make no sense? In short, dreadful. But all the P+P sequels are dreadful.
Alford: The Watchers a secret history of the reign of Elizabeth I spycraft in age of good queen bess. liking this. he does hop back and forth in time a bit confusingly in narrative as is following multiple strands of people and multiple projects
Hornby: Miss Austen pleasant mimsy novel about Cassandra austen and her burning JA's letters. low-octane. having to force self to pick this up and finish it
Bryant (edit): You On Target essays by Who-fen about the target novelisations, bought because N contributed. a lot of people remembering being little boys in libraries + WH Smithses in 70s and 80s
MxDougall: Mars Evacuees space opera romp for the 9-12 age crowd. Delightful and snarky pov heroine, her pint size of testosterone male chum and a genius best friend, the 3 travelling across mars landscape which is not entirely terraformed. v action adventure, funny charming
Price: Bitter Pill psycop 11 open ended for next instalment. Is bk 11. Is in danger of buckling under its own backstory. Also prob not originally intended to be so long a series, there has already been retconning her worldbuilding rules about how ghosts work in this world/is hearing or seeing ghosts harder/etc but as narrator hero was stoned through the early books let's call him unreliable + not nitpick. hero Jacob can jump in a lake but i do like vic
Postle: Joshua Reynolds the creation of celebrity exhibition catalogue, another portrait art hist book in fact. Interesting essays at front about pop culture of 18th century and lives of the subjects. Gorgeous pictures, more varied in mood than had associated with JR
Flanders: A Place For Everything the curious history of alphabetical order one of those overviewy books that want a broad market so get a bit flip and superficial and leave you unsatisfied
Criado Perez: Invisible Women exposing data bias in a world designed for men percentages-riddled polemic, restates some points over and over (read this quick so may have been overaware of repetition) v angry text, ripped through it at speed. read for work. can recommend with sincerity
Holmes: Shakespeare and Burbage the sound of shakespeare as devised to suit the voice and talents of his principal player too much of this is basically summaries of plays
Hardy: Jeremy Hardy Speaks Volumes words wit wisdom one liners and rants bday present for N - shamelessly read it myself - transcriptions of radio 4, heard his voice as read it
Yonge: Cunning Woman's Grandson, or, a tale of cheddar caves 100 years ago cottage novel, her virtuous poor are infuriatingly humble. mostly about early methodism. would expect young yonge to be hostile to dissenters but she sympathetic in this (written in her mellow age?)
Riordan: Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief major current children's title, greek gods action adventure, 1st in series, got free copy. Is fine but really reading it for work purposes.
Aiken: Foul Matter one of her adult melodramas in a subRebecca vein, isolated woman, looming threat, glamour, landscape, sudden death all round. is the kind of thing Russ took the piss out of in her article "someone's trying to kill me and I think it's my husband" but JA does this so wittily and zestfully. Heroine is cook so having flashbacks to Ephron's heartburn (which, less murdering)
Bemelmans: Madelaine picbook in yer fecking French, nun raised orphan etc
March:
Wilson-Lee: Daughters of Chivalry the forgotten children of Edward 1 bought biog of Eleanor castile on strength of this. Interesting read in that diff personalities discernable from old account books and travel decisions, glad i read it
Freeman: House of Glass the story and secrets of a twentieth century jewish family compelling read about HF's grandmother + great uncles lives from pogroms in e europe to paris and how most survived 2nd world war. Kinda want to press this on everyone i meet. Poss the most emotionally affecting gripping urgent book i read this yr
Aufricht: And the Shark, He Has Teeth a theatre producer's notes biog, strong on Weimar theatre history. He not a writer, dictated this to typist, narrative sort of lurches along clunkilly.
Jenkins: a Short History of London lucidly written speed telling of wot-it-sez-on-tin. As ever, big % of book is 19th + 20th century, would like more about earlier. Author tory, writes from perspective of city of london of bankers of conservative party. Bias annoying.freebie from publisher
Kushner: Tremontaine swashbuckle fantasy in nonexistant vaguely enlightenment citystate with scullduggery rapier fights haute couture backstabbing girl power queerness backstabbing postcolonialness and all that good stuff. No magic in this world. Prequels kushner's swordspoint which i loved DID NOT FINISH (is not you book its me)
Sansom: Dissolution 1st of shardlake hist crime series, bit ashamed not read it already. Is absorbing immersive tudor experience not sure why left it in to-read pile multiple years. Really gotta read wolf hall ETA: as a hist-fic, wonderful; as a crime, utterly bored in mid section where plot was treading water, a struggle to finish
Rigg (edit): No Turn Unstoned the worst ever theatrical reviews kinda dull really, impulse buy in oxfam the day i delivered N's bday present.will prob oxfam when they open again after corona virus
Carruthers (edit): Bluebeard and other mysterious men with even stranger facial hair text okay, what shines is the illustrations from 19th + 20th century editions. Related f-tales in more or less chronological order of the versions they reprinting. meh
Marcus: Helen Oxenbury a life in illustration coffee table heavily illus bio of the work of the sublime oxenbury. Lush
Fowler: The Lonely Hour bryant&may #17 after disappointing book 16 (which was set 1969 i think) this is proper good, set now, all the qualities of politics and eccentricity and observation of london that made me live the series ETA ending cliffhanger real kick in the teeth
Burton: Beyond The Weir Bridge, or, thomas childrens histfic about post civilwar england - roundheads/cavaliers - mostly about oppression of quakers. The plague in restoration london a bit more unsettling to read now in quarrantine times than when HBurton wrote it
April:
Moore: The Knife Man, blood body snatching and the birth of modern surgery 18th cent london, biog of surgeon hunter who hunterian museum is named after. Few pages in + my boundaries for gruesome already challenged
Pears: Death and Restoration cosycrime about art theft set in rome quarrantine had me in bad headspace so was a foggy read + i confused by plot
Ambrus: Blackbeard the Pirate picture book mostly for parents, lot of visual puns and meta jokes. Plays w stereotypes + joke about polynesian cannibals icky + racist. His dracula was just as stereotypey tbf but didn't annoy me as much; the targets felt less punch-down. Love ambrus' thumbprinty untidy drawing style
Mangan: The Reluctant Bride one womans journey kicking and screaming down the aisle autobiog of her wedding, her family anecdotes made me giggle in prev book; this was (+ the warning was in the title) too weddingy for me - did not realise when buying how irritating all that privilege wasted money and humblebragging would be - oxfammed
Hadlow: The Other Bennet Sister p+p sequel about mary. Writ by woman who did "strangest family" about monstrous dynamics of george iii family, which i loved, this much better than usual austen-fanfic
Lanyon: Murder at Pirate's Cove cosycrime. spent most of it wanting to slap hero for stupidity oxfammed
Sturluson: Heimskringla cannot cope with this, owing to lousy attention span this month. More bulletpointy than the narrative style of the iceland sagas which i thought this would resemble. Actually this edition - ugly cheap reprint, ghastly font - laid out in snippets like the chapter+verse of king james bible, with subheadings every paragraph or so summarising the next bit - this edition not helping
Broome: Fairy Tales from the Isle of Man this puffin pb is older than i am. Did not know till bought that had faux peasanty idiom and phonetic accent spelling, the thing that makes lady gregory unbearable, but in this case done effectively imo. Excellent stories, lotta mermaids in the mix
Smith: Homosexual Desire in Shakespeare's England a cultural poetics pretty dry 1st chapter but worth persevering
Ambrus: Dracula picturebook, aimed at parents not children, love his scruffy dynamic art style, dodgey japanese tourist stereotype in pictures - icky to me now but barely registered at time. remember selling this when in print w single proviso that no proper story just lots visual n verbal jokes
Holloway: The Way Out is Through shameless teenwolf retelling with chars renamed. Oh, + everyone has diff hair colour from tv show. Love this author's fanfics. Wish she had been more radical w plot
Abraham: Midsummer Night's Dream (actors on shakespeare) on bottom. Many words, little data, unhelpful. too much of it was a scene by scene recap
Garrett (edit): Greece a literary companion anthol of travel snippets arranged by place, a lot of l durrell + byron
Glinert: London Compendium a street by street exploration of the hidden metropolis listy, + to cram lots text into portable form (will absolutely carry this next time i drag n round lunnon) micro size print. Have tucked magnifying bookmark in. Arraged by postcode, locations of distinguished residents, weird businesses, arrests of serial killers mostly (the last) outside pubs. Funny surprising v dip-into-able
Coronavirus quarrantine time. Reading stamina of a paragraph on good day, sometimes a sentence before book drops from hand. A lot of fanfic on ao3, a bit of rereading (romance mostly) did not finish HEIMSKRINGLA or KNIFE MAN or TREMONTAINE
May:
Pratchett: Nation guy wants me to read this so here i am. It feels a bit moralistic. It IS v moralistic.
Ortberg: Something That May Shock And Discredit You essays about transitioning FTM. Loved ortberg's website thetoast.com which in large part is why am reading this; that was funny this is serious + toast made me smile and laugh but this is more anxious territory. Ortberg a feminist, and felt in 1st moment of hearing, now man, like had deserted post in battle, on reflection i have all the wrong responses to trans politics. A LOT of religous imagery as it turns out O was raised evangelical.
Vernon: Dragonsbreath gra novel for 8yr olds. Nice but did not live up to its hype (there was LOT of hype) oxfammed
Charles: Slippery Creatures fluffy m/m novella set in used bookshop in 1920s by author i reliably enjoy. Ought have been a quick melodrama read - spies, bolsheviks, dusty books, but read slowly. Not the book's fault and will get books 2+3 when they're published
Chase: Scandal Wears Satin clearly have dope brain so this is actually published by mills&boon. Is loretta chase who does funny charming regency. And wasn't so keen on it. Is not regency for starters. Heroine described as machiavellian schemer (her cunning is more baldrick level) hero is big dumb ox. Liked the bits about the dressmaking shop (1830s fashion is a hideous silhouette) but bad-farce amounts of pointless running around. Ironical thing is i got this cos i loved mr impossible (also brain-lady/big dumb ox, set in post napoleon egypt with hieroglyphics subplot, but done much more charmingly)
Ribeiro: The Gallery of Fashion from nat portrait gallery, hist of clothing in portraits, largely pictures. tbh the text was mostly 'who is this portrait of' with minimal clothing comment
Reade: Peg Woffington bought few years ago as is pretty edition - gilt edge pages, butterflies embossed on cover, illustrated by hugh thomson. Hugh t did those horribly twee (but am reluctantly charmed) illus you see on many mid-20th cent gift editions of austen. Then peg book sat in to-read pile for multiple years because expected a bumpy experience reading it. I loved cloister+hearth but that was when i was glomping a lot of victorian novels so was taking the slow pacing in stride. But this isn't just victorian. Is victorian doing pastiche of 18th cent, and goes like the less exhilerating stretches of henry esmond. Reade does a lot of gadzookery + pon rep to show is ye olden tymes, untranslated latin tags all over the place, style feels affected. Occasional editorial comment about how stupid and vulgar plays were congreve's works or "norval" or breeches parts convention etc, in contrast to the excellence of mid 19th cent theatre - reade speaking as professional playwright here - which feels ahistorical in way that bugs me.
Berger, Hawks: Almost Human the astonishing tale of homo naledi and the discovery that changed our human story autobiog of protohuman fossil hunter and his finding new early hominid in s africa. 2 much about him not enough hominids
June:
Pollard: Edward iv the summer king peng english monarchs series.
Neale: The Elizabethan House of Commons finding this a bit heavy going but is good book and full of stuff about status and corruption. Wish paulC could read it, political hist was his thing.
Krauss illus Sendak: A Hole Is To Dig pretty much sendak's 1st illustrating gig, seen it mentioned various places, was generally upward of 20quid to buy 2ndhand. Assumed it was bigger, more gifty (?) Is size of a how-to pamphlet you get in box with new electronics. Drawings pleasant but not yet there - rosie was a big step up from this. Text a bit twee
Jamieson: All's Faire in Middle School gra novel for tweens. Not as good as roller girl. Stuff about friendship + conforming, felt a bit weirdly paced.
Still unfinished: knife man/tremontaine/eliz house commons.
Back at work as of 15th june
July:
finished house of commons!!! Gave up on tremontaine ("it's not you, book, it's me") will resume knife man.. sometime
Sharma: The Corner Shop shopkeepers the sharmas and the making of modern britain part family memoir of her parents immigration from india, work experience, experiences of racism in england from 60s to now, part account of open-all-hours local shops in 2nd half 20th century.am all up for the retail bit. Is written by journalist which often means an easy engaging read but a read that is resolutely shallow.
Sillars: The Illustrated Shakespeare 1709 - 1875 less pictorial than hoped, a lot aboout publication hist of massmarket shakespeare
Sherriff: Greengates v gentle empathetic warm and humane novel, v fortnight in september, by kingston chap rc sherriff. Because so low key, not really driven to continue picking it up though it reads well - taking ages to finish it. Class, stiff upper lip, englishness, ordinary people and ordinary experiences, written with compassion for all the characters (he wrote dialogue for brief encounter) persephone reprint
Weldon: Why Will No One Publish My Novel a how-to write that would carry more heft if i rated W as a novelist or person. Read it, do not own it.
Hall: Peter Hall's Diaries the story of a dramatic battle did not expect to feel so hostile to PH, read this nonconsecutively jumping backwards and forwards in book. Came away w little idea what he does in his job. a lot of name dropping.
McKinley: Nine Lives Newton picturebook, adorable
Marks: Nothing To Be Afraid Of short stories about fear, not all horror or ghost, aimed ya readership
Latham: The Bookseller's Tale proof of september title at work, writ by legendary Ws manager, datanuggets + musings about books and reading. Liking it more than expected, but author a prodigous namedropper
Hynter: Balancing Acts behind the scenes at the national theatre saw review which quibbled at his studious self deprecation. To me it read well coming straight off hall's diaries, liked his collaborative approach, + got clearer sense of what he did in job
August:
Still on illus shakespeare, still barely started knife man
Williams: Viking London overweeningly purple writing, novella length, 2 pages in, hate it for the author's english style this is going to oxfam
Scarisbrick: Tudor and Jacobean Jewellry largely pics
Nicholl: The Lodger shakespeare on silver street he gets a lot out of v scant documentation - it reads more like inferring less like daydreaming than williams did tho there's a bit of novelising
Gavin: Coram Boy prizewinning childrens histfic. Have been reccing it promiscuously for years. Might not have recced it so much if had read it - is very very dark, so much infanticide, so many ways the children are failed in this. V good, but distressing, read it slowly
Bowdler: Nurse Ada in Canada thought it would be bodley head career novel type thing, was in fact a 1965 mills n boon. Pretty terrible, idiot heroine, slappable hero.
Soloway: Tiny Ladies in Shiny Pants autobiog feminist essays, amusing + mildly interesting, a lot about sex and social pressure
Davis: Comic Acting and Portraiture in Late Georgian and Regency England munden and liston feature, contemp responses to their pop culture. A lot about portraiture + contemp opinions on caricature. really enjoying
Hicks: The Bayeux Tapestry the life story of a masterpiece pop hist and so much fun. Brings out lots of things would have overlooked
Goss: British Tea and Coffee Cups 1745 - 1940 brief and pictorial, shire pamphlet
Gielgud: Shakespeare - hit or miss? interesting subject, insubstantial book. Got feeling he just vapoured into a tape recorder and a typist transcribed it. Wish his ghostwriter had asked followup questions
Duffy: Miniatures in the Wallace Collection catalogue w lots colour pictures and biogs of sitters
Schafer: Lilian Baylis a biography bit shamed. Lots stories about her, gossipy + funny, wanted to read more of that, but this is revisionary biog, reclaiming her as feminist + businesswoman. V good substantial biog where i wanted goss.
September:
Sykes: Kindred neanderthal life love death and art empathetic overview of current, 2020, understanding of neanderthal bodies and lives. Really good. Passages of Auel-ish daydreaming hist fiction, but even those bits seem mostly grounded in evidence - extrapolation rather than fantasy.
Herman: Legend of the Icelandic Yule Lads self published childrens book w horrible design choices + mediocre art. Bought 4 folktale interest- oxfammed
Coolidge: Just Sixteen short stories. what katy did author, thus am curious ETA: liked it but then i unironically enjoy mrs george de horne vaizey + this was that kind of gentle pap for nice sheltered girls who had to be both innocent and a moral shield. Very very soppy
Cockerill: Eleanor of Castille the shadow queen fairly good middlebrow biog, bit of understandable guesswork. Not getting a sense of EofC's personality + what i am getting, am disliking
Lister: Costumes of Everyday Life an illustrated history of working clothes from 900 to 1910 largely pictures tbh. I do like that she doesn't use contemp terms (which change across centuries for essentially same garment) so you can look at clothes without getting derailed by vocab
Dalrymple: The Anarchy the relentless rise of the east india company already feeling like he more pro empire than i + am not far into the introduction yet. ETA: mixed feelings. Clear narrative for ignoramous like self (am hopeless on history outside europe) by tying it to few major players who affected the power balance over decades - shah alam, clive, hastings, wellington's brother. But so much crammed into 400 pages that it felt like bullet points (battles) without connecting explanation
Brooks: Brothel in Pimlico collection jocular estate agents ads, london, 1970s. Stunned at prices
Nielsen: Nielsen's Fairy Illustrations in Full Colour dover art reproduction of lush coloured, flowing lined, pics
Brosh: Solutions and Other Problems cartoons about depression anxiety and life thrilled its long delayed publication has finally happened not least cos it means the authors funk has eased. If reccing brosh would rec hyperbole - this is product of dark times and not easy read.
Charles: Sugared Game 2nd of trilogy, mashup of buchan thrillers and m/m romance, thuggish bookseller + effete secret agent. Kj charles always worth a go
2 months in, + still nowhere close to finishing sillars book,
October:
Hile: Darcy By Any Other Name terrible terrible austen fanfic. Picture this - you've read freaky friday but wonder how austen would have handled the story. You read p+p but know a little bodyswop trope would take it from good to great. Author is evangelical. Neither darcy nor lizzie are recognisable. What is worse, entire carcrash read entirely avoidable. Knew this would be bad. UNFINISHED. THAT'S HOW PAINFUL THIS WAS
Ostrowski, Raffensperger (edit): Portraits of Medieval Eastern Europe 900 - 1400 speculative biogs of historic figures w framework of facts fleshed out with extrapolation. Routledge published this so trusted it would not go too histfic. that said, it IS too histfic
Ayres: Two Hundred Years of English Naive Art 1700 - 1900 mostly got for pics not the text. also had ringfenced some cash to spend in ubu books
Stevenson: Worse Than Willy picturebook. qblake-like scratchiness so much expression forgot how much i liked him
Lodge (edit): Jane Austen : Emma a Casebook am sure i read some of these essays elsewhere
Tersigni: Men to Avoid in Art and Life heavily meme-y feminist humour, classic art and modern captions. V thetoast.com
Osman: The Thursday Murder Club at age 8, suspected there was something not-right about blyton's police reaction to child vigilantes. In related news this cosycrime is pensioner vigilantes, geared toward readership who enthusiasts of verybritishproblems.com Not my genre but engaging and i cried when one of the red herrings was eliminated.
Cartwright-Hignett: Lili at Aynhoe, victorian life in an english country house mix of amateur watercolours + diary entries of german lady married into provincial tory manor in early 19th cent. Edited by her greatsomething granddaughter. Pics charming, v mary ellen best, interiors not people
Bauer: An Illustrated Treasury of Swedish Folk and Fairy Tales coffee table selection aimed to showcase artist who specialised in watercolours of trolls, goofy + eldritch, shades of brown. Rackham generation.
Datlow, Windling(edit): Black Swan White Raven adult retellings of fairy tales. Some great some less so.
Lack: Conqueror's Son duke robert curthose thwarted king is eldest son william the c, who spent 30 yrs in prison. Lack wants to rehabilitate reputation after smear job (by henry i? Or by rufus?) when william i dying in normandy, will rufus scuttled acress channel + secured royal treasury, army + assortment of bishops via bribes, also primogeniture not set in stone then. Less interested by this than i wanted to be
Anderson: Spam Tomorrow memoir of home front, posh english, ww2. funny. Bought partly to support small press who reprinted it.
November:
Dade: Spoiler Alert romcom set in fandom of madeup tv show. a lot of stuff about fatshaming.
Rude: The Crowd in History 1730-1848 a study of popular disturbances in france and england been meaning to read this for years. Is great. Gives info i didn't think was recoverable from the records.
Barchas: Lost Books of Jane Austen lots illustations, coffeetable book about early massmarket editions of JA + what that says about her in reception studies terms. Ironic that the cover is so ugly
Truth: Ain't I A Woman? peng great ideas minibook. Transcribed speeches from sojourner truth etc about emancipation + womens lib.
Naismith: Citadel of the Saxons the rise of early london liking this a lot so far
Lorenzen, Jeppesen: Dances of Denmark mini book, pub 1950, got for design + folk costume reasons
Katsarova: Dances of Bulgaria same series
Hall: Boyfriend Material romcom. Some good funny lines but pov character irritating. A lot of 1 note chars in the ensemble. Feels like a richard curtis film on paper. Bought cos kj charles' blog loved the book and was friends with writer.
Macaulay: City a story of roman planning and construction picturebook about roman architecure/city planning
Garebian: Colours to the Chameleon canadian actors on shakespeare author is theatre critic who i wish had listened more to his interviwees and put less of his own notions in the book. they weren't bad notions but i didn't want his thoughts
Baines, Rogers: Edmund Curll, Bookseller v dry. theres bit in intro where they semi apologise that the 1927 curll bio is so much more fun (tho inaccurate and not as much access to biblio data: seriously, so much research in this) find self wishing had got the gossipy version at points but just saturated with reading, is 20th of monthas i type
Luthi: Sentimental Jewellry (shire album) mourning jewellry in chronological order
Macaulay: Mill another nonfic picturebook about industrial architecture
December:
back to work last monday of nov, entire xmas retail battle has to be crammed into 3 weeks. Chaos
Aiken: Morningquest one of her light adult gothics. Wanted something easy + amusing. restraining self from essay here - i call this sub-du maurier:rebecca genre 20th century gothic, publishers call it romantic suspense. Male lead looks like serial killer till late in book, or else IS serial killer and you find out 80% through. Heroine is mary sue. I like aiken's grownup books but they not capital L literature
Frith: A Werewolf Named Oliver James picturebook. Love werewolves, sweet story, not crazy about the art. Got cos bought too many picbooks for n's flatmate's xmas present so was exchanging the duplicate of don't let the pigeon drive the bus, which as a primaryschool teacher he wd know already (it is fab but too obvious)
Beresford: Diana in Television career novel for gels by inventor of wombles, pub 1963. Hackwork.
Straus: The Unspeakable Curll being some account of edmund curll bookseller to which is added a full list of his books this was cited a lot in last month's bk on curll so here i am. Pub 1927 i think
Stavridi: History of Costume 4BC -1500AD illus faith jacques which is why i bought it, which is good because the text is hilariously simplistic + judgemental - aimed child readership.
Cooper: Little Wolf lovelorn werewolf guff. Wanted something fluffy after most of month finishing sillars - which v good book lots enlightenment but writ for higher iq than i have. Actually hero of LW is tstl and the story is aggravating me so much i can barely turn the pages. Bad end to year. hurled aside unfinished
Mendlesohn: Creating Memory historical fiction and the english civil wars v acad v statisticsy analysis of childrens hist fic re roundheads vs cavaliers. Heard it was being written a year ago + preordered it. Wish more commentary and FMs opinion on books cited, is a lot about tendency to bias and shifts in presentation.
Birtwhistle, Conklin, Davies: Making of Jane Austen's Emma about bbc production starring beckinsale. Wasted lot of pages on AD's script, more interesting was the making-of bits about finding sites to film, organising what order to film final scene, designing costume that fit period + expressed character
Wiggin: A Cathedral Courtship thought it would be about KDW's recurring character penelope, is not. even more soppy than kate douglas wiggin normally is. to oxfam with it. Pics nice, by ce brock who i confuse w hugh thomson
finally finished sillars shakespeare bk which have been slowly progressing through since summer. furlough again from 19th
January :
Nagy/Boquet: Medieval Sensibilities is much more theological than bargained for, am struggling to keep up. wanted a nice mentalities thingy, but as the contemporary medieval writings on emotion are all about Christian contemplative practices + they're building the book on contemp texts so there is So. Much. Theology. this is hard work to read.
Clery: Jane Austen the Banker's Sister economics in the life and works of JA. lots about brother henry (who gets skated over as disreputable in many JA biographies tho by all accounts he her fave bro)
Hicks: The King's Glass a study of tudor power and secret art account of the making of kings college chapel stainglass windows, which, lived in Cambridge a decade and only went to look couple times, sad now did not pay more attention. lot about guild vs furriners-taking-our-jobs strife, how political prestige won extra budgets, (god these issues - is this even history?) some info about glass-making process, was good read
penguin : the Happy Reader issue #13 meh
Grimm: Frog Prince picturebook version of story, wording functional, bought for jan ormerod illustrations
Walter: Ma Maman A Besoin De Moi fr language picturebook, got largely for the illustrations which this edition has diff artist + much nicer than the usa original ed
Taylor: An Atlas of Tudor England and Wales 40 plates from john speed's pocket atlas of 1627 king penguin bought cos nice edition cheap from Kempton pk fair. print eye squintingly small
Armstrong: Dances of Spain #2 north east and east little beautiful picturebook giving music and choreography, got, in my case, for the regional folkdress illus.
Briggs: Storm Cursed paranorm urban fantasy, werewolves
Dekker: The Tradition of Female Cross Dressing in Early Modern Europe not Europe, Holland. and not all early modern, largely 17th century. author v iffy and medicalising about transsexuals, treats them as freakshow
Sponsler: The Queen's Dumbshows john lydgate and the making of early theatre feel bait and switched by title - v little about theatre, much about public processions ritual rather than -what i expected - minstrel in hall stuff. topic interesting, treatment tedious beyond belief.
Gray: Strumpets and Ninnycocks name calling in devon 1540 - 1640 v listy and poorly organised in the way he presented the info. Am idiot who bought cos amusing title and topic. Disappointingly written, oxfammed.
Duffy: Voices of Morebath reformation and rebellion in an English village absorbing microhistory and less dry than expected. Been meaning to read for couple yrs, sorry i dragged feet as so good
Chen: Je Ne Vais Pas Pleurer French language picturebook about Chinese child lost at festival - loved the illus, v detailed but scratchy on light buff backdrop
Fyfe: Dances of Germany mini-book from 50s, bit of folk costume, bit of folkdance info, bit of musical score, bit of national stereotyping. v prettily produced books
Chambers: Gentleman Wolf 100 year old werewolf in Edinburgh in bagwig and red high heels, revenge plot, seemed fun concept. Book 1 of 2. Won't bother with 2. Hero tiresome.
Norwich: Four Princes henry viii francis I Charles v sulieman the magnificent and the obsessions that forged modern Europe superficial but pageturny and enjoyable.
Febuary:
Fleming: Perception why do I keep reading austen fanfics? why do authors who love JA repeatedly mary-sue up her bloody characters into niminy piminy chits who do not resemble the people in the books at all, and, trying for Georgian style vocabulary, use words similar to, but not meaning the same as, words they meant? why does nobody in these books behave like people rather than inhabitants of romancelandia? why do the emotional interactions make no sense? In short, dreadful. But all the P+P sequels are dreadful.
Alford: The Watchers a secret history of the reign of Elizabeth I spycraft in age of good queen bess. liking this. he does hop back and forth in time a bit confusingly in narrative as is following multiple strands of people and multiple projects
Hornby: Miss Austen pleasant mimsy novel about Cassandra austen and her burning JA's letters. low-octane. having to force self to pick this up and finish it
Bryant (edit): You On Target essays by Who-fen about the target novelisations, bought because N contributed. a lot of people remembering being little boys in libraries + WH Smithses in 70s and 80s
MxDougall: Mars Evacuees space opera romp for the 9-12 age crowd. Delightful and snarky pov heroine, her pint size of testosterone male chum and a genius best friend, the 3 travelling across mars landscape which is not entirely terraformed. v action adventure, funny charming
Price: Bitter Pill psycop 11 open ended for next instalment. Is bk 11. Is in danger of buckling under its own backstory. Also prob not originally intended to be so long a series, there has already been retconning her worldbuilding rules about how ghosts work in this world/is hearing or seeing ghosts harder/etc but as narrator hero was stoned through the early books let's call him unreliable + not nitpick. hero Jacob can jump in a lake but i do like vic
Postle: Joshua Reynolds the creation of celebrity exhibition catalogue, another portrait art hist book in fact. Interesting essays at front about pop culture of 18th century and lives of the subjects. Gorgeous pictures, more varied in mood than had associated with JR
Flanders: A Place For Everything the curious history of alphabetical order one of those overviewy books that want a broad market so get a bit flip and superficial and leave you unsatisfied
Criado Perez: Invisible Women exposing data bias in a world designed for men percentages-riddled polemic, restates some points over and over (read this quick so may have been overaware of repetition) v angry text, ripped through it at speed. read for work. can recommend with sincerity
Holmes: Shakespeare and Burbage the sound of shakespeare as devised to suit the voice and talents of his principal player too much of this is basically summaries of plays
Hardy: Jeremy Hardy Speaks Volumes words wit wisdom one liners and rants bday present for N - shamelessly read it myself - transcriptions of radio 4, heard his voice as read it
Yonge: Cunning Woman's Grandson, or, a tale of cheddar caves 100 years ago cottage novel, her virtuous poor are infuriatingly humble. mostly about early methodism. would expect young yonge to be hostile to dissenters but she sympathetic in this (written in her mellow age?)
Riordan: Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief major current children's title, greek gods action adventure, 1st in series, got free copy. Is fine but really reading it for work purposes.
Aiken: Foul Matter one of her adult melodramas in a subRebecca vein, isolated woman, looming threat, glamour, landscape, sudden death all round. is the kind of thing Russ took the piss out of in her article "someone's trying to kill me and I think it's my husband" but JA does this so wittily and zestfully. Heroine is cook so having flashbacks to Ephron's heartburn (which, less murdering)
Bemelmans: Madelaine picbook in yer fecking French, nun raised orphan etc
March:
Wilson-Lee: Daughters of Chivalry the forgotten children of Edward 1 bought biog of Eleanor castile on strength of this. Interesting read in that diff personalities discernable from old account books and travel decisions, glad i read it
Freeman: House of Glass the story and secrets of a twentieth century jewish family compelling read about HF's grandmother + great uncles lives from pogroms in e europe to paris and how most survived 2nd world war. Kinda want to press this on everyone i meet. Poss the most emotionally affecting gripping urgent book i read this yr
Aufricht: And the Shark, He Has Teeth a theatre producer's notes biog, strong on Weimar theatre history. He not a writer, dictated this to typist, narrative sort of lurches along clunkilly.
Jenkins: a Short History of London lucidly written speed telling of wot-it-sez-on-tin. As ever, big % of book is 19th + 20th century, would like more about earlier. Author tory, writes from perspective of city of london of bankers of conservative party. Bias annoying.freebie from publisher
Kushner: Tremontaine swashbuckle fantasy in nonexistant vaguely enlightenment citystate with scullduggery rapier fights haute couture backstabbing girl power queerness backstabbing postcolonialness and all that good stuff. No magic in this world. Prequels kushner's swordspoint which i loved DID NOT FINISH (is not you book its me)
Sansom: Dissolution 1st of shardlake hist crime series, bit ashamed not read it already. Is absorbing immersive tudor experience not sure why left it in to-read pile multiple years. Really gotta read wolf hall ETA: as a hist-fic, wonderful; as a crime, utterly bored in mid section where plot was treading water, a struggle to finish
Rigg (edit): No Turn Unstoned the worst ever theatrical reviews kinda dull really, impulse buy in oxfam the day i delivered N's bday present.will prob oxfam when they open again after corona virus
Carruthers (edit): Bluebeard and other mysterious men with even stranger facial hair text okay, what shines is the illustrations from 19th + 20th century editions. Related f-tales in more or less chronological order of the versions they reprinting. meh
Marcus: Helen Oxenbury a life in illustration coffee table heavily illus bio of the work of the sublime oxenbury. Lush
Fowler: The Lonely Hour bryant&may #17 after disappointing book 16 (which was set 1969 i think) this is proper good, set now, all the qualities of politics and eccentricity and observation of london that made me live the series ETA ending cliffhanger real kick in the teeth
Burton: Beyond The Weir Bridge, or, thomas childrens histfic about post civilwar england - roundheads/cavaliers - mostly about oppression of quakers. The plague in restoration london a bit more unsettling to read now in quarrantine times than when HBurton wrote it
April:
Moore: The Knife Man, blood body snatching and the birth of modern surgery 18th cent london, biog of surgeon hunter who hunterian museum is named after. Few pages in + my boundaries for gruesome already challenged
Pears: Death and Restoration cosycrime about art theft set in rome quarrantine had me in bad headspace so was a foggy read + i confused by plot
Ambrus: Blackbeard the Pirate picture book mostly for parents, lot of visual puns and meta jokes. Plays w stereotypes + joke about polynesian cannibals icky + racist. His dracula was just as stereotypey tbf but didn't annoy me as much; the targets felt less punch-down. Love ambrus' thumbprinty untidy drawing style
Mangan: The Reluctant Bride one womans journey kicking and screaming down the aisle autobiog of her wedding, her family anecdotes made me giggle in prev book; this was (+ the warning was in the title) too weddingy for me - did not realise when buying how irritating all that privilege wasted money and humblebragging would be - oxfammed
Hadlow: The Other Bennet Sister p+p sequel about mary. Writ by woman who did "strangest family" about monstrous dynamics of george iii family, which i loved, this much better than usual austen-fanfic
Lanyon: Murder at Pirate's Cove cosycrime. spent most of it wanting to slap hero for stupidity oxfammed
Sturluson: Heimskringla cannot cope with this, owing to lousy attention span this month. More bulletpointy than the narrative style of the iceland sagas which i thought this would resemble. Actually this edition - ugly cheap reprint, ghastly font - laid out in snippets like the chapter+verse of king james bible, with subheadings every paragraph or so summarising the next bit - this edition not helping
Broome: Fairy Tales from the Isle of Man this puffin pb is older than i am. Did not know till bought that had faux peasanty idiom and phonetic accent spelling, the thing that makes lady gregory unbearable, but in this case done effectively imo. Excellent stories, lotta mermaids in the mix
Smith: Homosexual Desire in Shakespeare's England a cultural poetics pretty dry 1st chapter but worth persevering
Ambrus: Dracula picturebook, aimed at parents not children, love his scruffy dynamic art style, dodgey japanese tourist stereotype in pictures - icky to me now but barely registered at time. remember selling this when in print w single proviso that no proper story just lots visual n verbal jokes
Holloway: The Way Out is Through shameless teenwolf retelling with chars renamed. Oh, + everyone has diff hair colour from tv show. Love this author's fanfics. Wish she had been more radical w plot
Abraham: Midsummer Night's Dream (actors on shakespeare) on bottom. Many words, little data, unhelpful. too much of it was a scene by scene recap
Garrett (edit): Greece a literary companion anthol of travel snippets arranged by place, a lot of l durrell + byron
Glinert: London Compendium a street by street exploration of the hidden metropolis listy, + to cram lots text into portable form (will absolutely carry this next time i drag n round lunnon) micro size print. Have tucked magnifying bookmark in. Arraged by postcode, locations of distinguished residents, weird businesses, arrests of serial killers mostly (the last) outside pubs. Funny surprising v dip-into-able
Coronavirus quarrantine time. Reading stamina of a paragraph on good day, sometimes a sentence before book drops from hand. A lot of fanfic on ao3, a bit of rereading (romance mostly) did not finish HEIMSKRINGLA or KNIFE MAN or TREMONTAINE
May:
Pratchett: Nation guy wants me to read this so here i am. It feels a bit moralistic. It IS v moralistic.
Ortberg: Something That May Shock And Discredit You essays about transitioning FTM. Loved ortberg's website thetoast.com which in large part is why am reading this; that was funny this is serious + toast made me smile and laugh but this is more anxious territory. Ortberg a feminist, and felt in 1st moment of hearing, now man, like had deserted post in battle, on reflection i have all the wrong responses to trans politics. A LOT of religous imagery as it turns out O was raised evangelical.
Vernon: Dragonsbreath gra novel for 8yr olds. Nice but did not live up to its hype (there was LOT of hype) oxfammed
Charles: Slippery Creatures fluffy m/m novella set in used bookshop in 1920s by author i reliably enjoy. Ought have been a quick melodrama read - spies, bolsheviks, dusty books, but read slowly. Not the book's fault and will get books 2+3 when they're published
Chase: Scandal Wears Satin clearly have dope brain so this is actually published by mills&boon. Is loretta chase who does funny charming regency. And wasn't so keen on it. Is not regency for starters. Heroine described as machiavellian schemer (her cunning is more baldrick level) hero is big dumb ox. Liked the bits about the dressmaking shop (1830s fashion is a hideous silhouette) but bad-farce amounts of pointless running around. Ironical thing is i got this cos i loved mr impossible (also brain-lady/big dumb ox, set in post napoleon egypt with hieroglyphics subplot, but done much more charmingly)
Ribeiro: The Gallery of Fashion from nat portrait gallery, hist of clothing in portraits, largely pictures. tbh the text was mostly 'who is this portrait of' with minimal clothing comment
Reade: Peg Woffington bought few years ago as is pretty edition - gilt edge pages, butterflies embossed on cover, illustrated by hugh thomson. Hugh t did those horribly twee (but am reluctantly charmed) illus you see on many mid-20th cent gift editions of austen. Then peg book sat in to-read pile for multiple years because expected a bumpy experience reading it. I loved cloister+hearth but that was when i was glomping a lot of victorian novels so was taking the slow pacing in stride. But this isn't just victorian. Is victorian doing pastiche of 18th cent, and goes like the less exhilerating stretches of henry esmond. Reade does a lot of gadzookery + pon rep to show is ye olden tymes, untranslated latin tags all over the place, style feels affected. Occasional editorial comment about how stupid and vulgar plays were congreve's works or "norval" or breeches parts convention etc, in contrast to the excellence of mid 19th cent theatre - reade speaking as professional playwright here - which feels ahistorical in way that bugs me.
Berger, Hawks: Almost Human the astonishing tale of homo naledi and the discovery that changed our human story autobiog of protohuman fossil hunter and his finding new early hominid in s africa. 2 much about him not enough hominids
June:
Pollard: Edward iv the summer king peng english monarchs series.
Neale: The Elizabethan House of Commons finding this a bit heavy going but is good book and full of stuff about status and corruption. Wish paulC could read it, political hist was his thing.
Krauss illus Sendak: A Hole Is To Dig pretty much sendak's 1st illustrating gig, seen it mentioned various places, was generally upward of 20quid to buy 2ndhand. Assumed it was bigger, more gifty (?) Is size of a how-to pamphlet you get in box with new electronics. Drawings pleasant but not yet there - rosie was a big step up from this. Text a bit twee
Jamieson: All's Faire in Middle School gra novel for tweens. Not as good as roller girl. Stuff about friendship + conforming, felt a bit weirdly paced.
Still unfinished: knife man/tremontaine/eliz house commons.
Back at work as of 15th june
July:
finished house of commons!!! Gave up on tremontaine ("it's not you, book, it's me") will resume knife man.. sometime
Sharma: The Corner Shop shopkeepers the sharmas and the making of modern britain part family memoir of her parents immigration from india, work experience, experiences of racism in england from 60s to now, part account of open-all-hours local shops in 2nd half 20th century.am all up for the retail bit. Is written by journalist which often means an easy engaging read but a read that is resolutely shallow.
Sillars: The Illustrated Shakespeare 1709 - 1875 less pictorial than hoped, a lot aboout publication hist of massmarket shakespeare
Sherriff: Greengates v gentle empathetic warm and humane novel, v fortnight in september, by kingston chap rc sherriff. Because so low key, not really driven to continue picking it up though it reads well - taking ages to finish it. Class, stiff upper lip, englishness, ordinary people and ordinary experiences, written with compassion for all the characters (he wrote dialogue for brief encounter) persephone reprint
Weldon: Why Will No One Publish My Novel a how-to write that would carry more heft if i rated W as a novelist or person. Read it, do not own it.
Hall: Peter Hall's Diaries the story of a dramatic battle did not expect to feel so hostile to PH, read this nonconsecutively jumping backwards and forwards in book. Came away w little idea what he does in his job. a lot of name dropping.
McKinley: Nine Lives Newton picturebook, adorable
Marks: Nothing To Be Afraid Of short stories about fear, not all horror or ghost, aimed ya readership
Latham: The Bookseller's Tale proof of september title at work, writ by legendary Ws manager, datanuggets + musings about books and reading. Liking it more than expected, but author a prodigous namedropper
Hynter: Balancing Acts behind the scenes at the national theatre saw review which quibbled at his studious self deprecation. To me it read well coming straight off hall's diaries, liked his collaborative approach, + got clearer sense of what he did in job
August:
Still on illus shakespeare, still barely started knife man
Williams: Viking London overweeningly purple writing, novella length, 2 pages in, hate it for the author's english style this is going to oxfam
Scarisbrick: Tudor and Jacobean Jewellry largely pics
Nicholl: The Lodger shakespeare on silver street he gets a lot out of v scant documentation - it reads more like inferring less like daydreaming than williams did tho there's a bit of novelising
Gavin: Coram Boy prizewinning childrens histfic. Have been reccing it promiscuously for years. Might not have recced it so much if had read it - is very very dark, so much infanticide, so many ways the children are failed in this. V good, but distressing, read it slowly
Bowdler: Nurse Ada in Canada thought it would be bodley head career novel type thing, was in fact a 1965 mills n boon. Pretty terrible, idiot heroine, slappable hero.
Soloway: Tiny Ladies in Shiny Pants autobiog feminist essays, amusing + mildly interesting, a lot about sex and social pressure
Davis: Comic Acting and Portraiture in Late Georgian and Regency England munden and liston feature, contemp responses to their pop culture. A lot about portraiture + contemp opinions on caricature. really enjoying
Hicks: The Bayeux Tapestry the life story of a masterpiece pop hist and so much fun. Brings out lots of things would have overlooked
Goss: British Tea and Coffee Cups 1745 - 1940 brief and pictorial, shire pamphlet
Gielgud: Shakespeare - hit or miss? interesting subject, insubstantial book. Got feeling he just vapoured into a tape recorder and a typist transcribed it. Wish his ghostwriter had asked followup questions
Duffy: Miniatures in the Wallace Collection catalogue w lots colour pictures and biogs of sitters
Schafer: Lilian Baylis a biography bit shamed. Lots stories about her, gossipy + funny, wanted to read more of that, but this is revisionary biog, reclaiming her as feminist + businesswoman. V good substantial biog where i wanted goss.
September:
Sykes: Kindred neanderthal life love death and art empathetic overview of current, 2020, understanding of neanderthal bodies and lives. Really good. Passages of Auel-ish daydreaming hist fiction, but even those bits seem mostly grounded in evidence - extrapolation rather than fantasy.
Herman: Legend of the Icelandic Yule Lads self published childrens book w horrible design choices + mediocre art. Bought 4 folktale interest- oxfammed
Coolidge: Just Sixteen short stories. what katy did author, thus am curious ETA: liked it but then i unironically enjoy mrs george de horne vaizey + this was that kind of gentle pap for nice sheltered girls who had to be both innocent and a moral shield. Very very soppy
Cockerill: Eleanor of Castille the shadow queen fairly good middlebrow biog, bit of understandable guesswork. Not getting a sense of EofC's personality + what i am getting, am disliking
Lister: Costumes of Everyday Life an illustrated history of working clothes from 900 to 1910 largely pictures tbh. I do like that she doesn't use contemp terms (which change across centuries for essentially same garment) so you can look at clothes without getting derailed by vocab
Dalrymple: The Anarchy the relentless rise of the east india company already feeling like he more pro empire than i + am not far into the introduction yet. ETA: mixed feelings. Clear narrative for ignoramous like self (am hopeless on history outside europe) by tying it to few major players who affected the power balance over decades - shah alam, clive, hastings, wellington's brother. But so much crammed into 400 pages that it felt like bullet points (battles) without connecting explanation
Brooks: Brothel in Pimlico collection jocular estate agents ads, london, 1970s. Stunned at prices
Nielsen: Nielsen's Fairy Illustrations in Full Colour dover art reproduction of lush coloured, flowing lined, pics
Brosh: Solutions and Other Problems cartoons about depression anxiety and life thrilled its long delayed publication has finally happened not least cos it means the authors funk has eased. If reccing brosh would rec hyperbole - this is product of dark times and not easy read.
Charles: Sugared Game 2nd of trilogy, mashup of buchan thrillers and m/m romance, thuggish bookseller + effete secret agent. Kj charles always worth a go
2 months in, + still nowhere close to finishing sillars book,
October:
Hile: Darcy By Any Other Name terrible terrible austen fanfic. Picture this - you've read freaky friday but wonder how austen would have handled the story. You read p+p but know a little bodyswop trope would take it from good to great. Author is evangelical. Neither darcy nor lizzie are recognisable. What is worse, entire carcrash read entirely avoidable. Knew this would be bad. UNFINISHED. THAT'S HOW PAINFUL THIS WAS
Ostrowski, Raffensperger (edit): Portraits of Medieval Eastern Europe 900 - 1400 speculative biogs of historic figures w framework of facts fleshed out with extrapolation. Routledge published this so trusted it would not go too histfic. that said, it IS too histfic
Ayres: Two Hundred Years of English Naive Art 1700 - 1900 mostly got for pics not the text. also had ringfenced some cash to spend in ubu books
Stevenson: Worse Than Willy picturebook. qblake-like scratchiness so much expression forgot how much i liked him
Lodge (edit): Jane Austen : Emma a Casebook am sure i read some of these essays elsewhere
Tersigni: Men to Avoid in Art and Life heavily meme-y feminist humour, classic art and modern captions. V thetoast.com
Osman: The Thursday Murder Club at age 8, suspected there was something not-right about blyton's police reaction to child vigilantes. In related news this cosycrime is pensioner vigilantes, geared toward readership who enthusiasts of verybritishproblems.com Not my genre but engaging and i cried when one of the red herrings was eliminated.
Cartwright-Hignett: Lili at Aynhoe, victorian life in an english country house mix of amateur watercolours + diary entries of german lady married into provincial tory manor in early 19th cent. Edited by her greatsomething granddaughter. Pics charming, v mary ellen best, interiors not people
Bauer: An Illustrated Treasury of Swedish Folk and Fairy Tales coffee table selection aimed to showcase artist who specialised in watercolours of trolls, goofy + eldritch, shades of brown. Rackham generation.
Datlow, Windling(edit): Black Swan White Raven adult retellings of fairy tales. Some great some less so.
Lack: Conqueror's Son duke robert curthose thwarted king is eldest son william the c, who spent 30 yrs in prison. Lack wants to rehabilitate reputation after smear job (by henry i? Or by rufus?) when william i dying in normandy, will rufus scuttled acress channel + secured royal treasury, army + assortment of bishops via bribes, also primogeniture not set in stone then. Less interested by this than i wanted to be
Anderson: Spam Tomorrow memoir of home front, posh english, ww2. funny. Bought partly to support small press who reprinted it.
November:
Dade: Spoiler Alert romcom set in fandom of madeup tv show. a lot of stuff about fatshaming.
Rude: The Crowd in History 1730-1848 a study of popular disturbances in france and england been meaning to read this for years. Is great. Gives info i didn't think was recoverable from the records.
Barchas: Lost Books of Jane Austen lots illustations, coffeetable book about early massmarket editions of JA + what that says about her in reception studies terms. Ironic that the cover is so ugly
Truth: Ain't I A Woman? peng great ideas minibook. Transcribed speeches from sojourner truth etc about emancipation + womens lib.
Naismith: Citadel of the Saxons the rise of early london liking this a lot so far
Lorenzen, Jeppesen: Dances of Denmark mini book, pub 1950, got for design + folk costume reasons
Katsarova: Dances of Bulgaria same series
Hall: Boyfriend Material romcom. Some good funny lines but pov character irritating. A lot of 1 note chars in the ensemble. Feels like a richard curtis film on paper. Bought cos kj charles' blog loved the book and was friends with writer.
Macaulay: City a story of roman planning and construction picturebook about roman architecure/city planning
Garebian: Colours to the Chameleon canadian actors on shakespeare author is theatre critic who i wish had listened more to his interviwees and put less of his own notions in the book. they weren't bad notions but i didn't want his thoughts
Baines, Rogers: Edmund Curll, Bookseller v dry. theres bit in intro where they semi apologise that the 1927 curll bio is so much more fun (tho inaccurate and not as much access to biblio data: seriously, so much research in this) find self wishing had got the gossipy version at points but just saturated with reading, is 20th of monthas i type
Luthi: Sentimental Jewellry (shire album) mourning jewellry in chronological order
Macaulay: Mill another nonfic picturebook about industrial architecture
December:
back to work last monday of nov, entire xmas retail battle has to be crammed into 3 weeks. Chaos
Aiken: Morningquest one of her light adult gothics. Wanted something easy + amusing. restraining self from essay here - i call this sub-du maurier:rebecca genre 20th century gothic, publishers call it romantic suspense. Male lead looks like serial killer till late in book, or else IS serial killer and you find out 80% through. Heroine is mary sue. I like aiken's grownup books but they not capital L literature
Frith: A Werewolf Named Oliver James picturebook. Love werewolves, sweet story, not crazy about the art. Got cos bought too many picbooks for n's flatmate's xmas present so was exchanging the duplicate of don't let the pigeon drive the bus, which as a primaryschool teacher he wd know already (it is fab but too obvious)
Beresford: Diana in Television career novel for gels by inventor of wombles, pub 1963. Hackwork.
Straus: The Unspeakable Curll being some account of edmund curll bookseller to which is added a full list of his books this was cited a lot in last month's bk on curll so here i am. Pub 1927 i think
Stavridi: History of Costume 4BC -1500AD illus faith jacques which is why i bought it, which is good because the text is hilariously simplistic + judgemental - aimed child readership.
Cooper: Little Wolf lovelorn werewolf guff. Wanted something fluffy after most of month finishing sillars - which v good book lots enlightenment but writ for higher iq than i have. Actually hero of LW is tstl and the story is aggravating me so much i can barely turn the pages. Bad end to year. hurled aside unfinished
Mendlesohn: Creating Memory historical fiction and the english civil wars v acad v statisticsy analysis of childrens hist fic re roundheads vs cavaliers. Heard it was being written a year ago + preordered it. Wish more commentary and FMs opinion on books cited, is a lot about tendency to bias and shifts in presentation.
Birtwhistle, Conklin, Davies: Making of Jane Austen's Emma about bbc production starring beckinsale. Wasted lot of pages on AD's script, more interesting was the making-of bits about finding sites to film, organising what order to film final scene, designing costume that fit period + expressed character
Wiggin: A Cathedral Courtship thought it would be about KDW's recurring character penelope, is not. even more soppy than kate douglas wiggin normally is. to oxfam with it. Pics nice, by ce brock who i confuse w hugh thomson
finally finished sillars shakespeare bk which have been slowly progressing through since summer. furlough again from 19th