The Awakening is one of those books that has been sitting on my bookshelf for ages, unread. I finally sat down and read it, and now I have Some Thoughts. The introductory note in my Dover Thrift edition teases with the following: Chopin's second and last novel, The Awakening, was published in 1899 and aroused … Continue reading (Sea) Salty Thoughts on The Awakening by Kate Chopin
It feels like a long moment since I've posted about one of my true loves: what Persephone Books terms "neglected classics," penned by female writers. Some may venture to call it vintage "middlebrow" fiction (but others may bare their teeth at them). Today I am delighted to be writing about Margery Sharp, who has somehow … Continue reading A Vintage Delight: The Nutmeg Tree by Margery Sharp
Keeping in line with my inadvertent summer theme of fantasy novels, I recently turned the last page on A Deadly Education, the first book in Naomi Novik's projected Scholomance trilogy. This has been by far my favourite Naomi Novik book—for me, neither Uprooted nor Spinning Silver lived up to their hype. But this one I … Continue reading A Deadly Education by Naomi Novik, Romanian folklore, and some thoughts about perfectionism
Although I am a big fan of mystery novels, I have read very little in the way of noir. I am ever so slowly remedying that, and thus far can count The Blank Wall by Elisabeth Sanxay Holding, The Maltese Falcon by Dashiell Hammett, and, now, Dread Journey by Dorothy B. Hughes, as under my … Continue reading Murder, Glamour, and #MeToo, 1940s-Style: Dread Journey by Dorothy B. Hughes
Well, here I am writing another post about another brand new book, in spite of my previous assertion that is something I rarely do. But sometimes you go where the wind blows, and this October it floated me over to Waiting for a Star to Fall by Kerry Clare. I am a big fan of … Continue reading Culture-Making, Dirty Dancing, and #MeToo: Waiting for a Star to Fall by Kerry Clare
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