What I read
Finished The House that BJ Built, which was enjoyable, though just possibly stretched out the complications a tad too long.
Also finished The Corner That Held Them, which is superb, even if it is not a stay-up-all-night-to-finish kind of book.
Rather different nuns: Gladys Mitchell, Convent on Styx (1975) (Mrs Bradley must be well over ( Read more... )

What I read
Finished That Lady, which, sort of interesting, but I kept thinking that while one doesn't necessarily want forsoothery and godswottery in srs historical novels, there was I thought a certain anachronism in the way people were talking about politics and religion in a setting meant to be C16th Spain under Philip II. I suppose compare/ ( Read more... )

What I read
Margery Sharp, Britannia Mews (1946). I find Sharp's work interesting enough that I look out for it to acquire in a haphazard way, but I find it sufficiently uneven that I'm hesitant to go out and deliberately expand my collection. This is sort of midwayish - it's not for me one of her really amazing books, but it doesn't plumb the ( Read more... )

Since I received two requests to go on about E M Delafield -

Though I'm sure I've probably covered some of these points already, and more than once -

E M Delafield =/= The Provincial Lady

Paul Dashwood =/= 'Robert'. (They met after he wrote her a fan-letter about one of her books. We doubt Robert ever reads anything that isn't either the newspaper ( Read more... )

In that I was scheduled to work and feeling that I wasn't feeling bad enough to plead illness, so I went in

Even though most of the day I was suffering from a niggling sinusy-type headache that took a long time to shift, and a vaguely queasy feeling

And

No-one turned up until very late morning, and we only had three rare materials readers ( Read more... )

Would it be appropriate and acceptable to include an Irish woman writer in a group of women writers of c. 1930s described as 'British women writers'? The writer in question, Kate O'Brien, lived in England for most of her adult life, was published by English publishers (and several of her books were Banned In The Free State for immoral tendencies), ( Read more... )

This is a lovely book. I first discovered it when I was prowling around the library at [West Country University] the other week, on the secondhand books for sale shelf: unfortunately I couldn't buy it, as by that hour the issue desk, to which one was directed with one's pennies, had closed. So I missed buying a hardback copy for 60p, but, joy! ( Read more... )