Category Archives: Discussion

DISCUSSION: Unacceptable views?

Posted on August 24, 2011 by

I was reading a very interesting discussion last night on the Smart Bitches, Trashy Books blog (which generally reviews and discusses romance novels) which stemmed from one of the reviewer’s low rating of The Grand Sophy by Georgette Heyer – … Continue reading →

Posted in Discussion, Not A Review, Romance | Tagged , , , , , , , | 15 Comments

Hiatus

Posted on August 2, 2011 by

Well, in the words of Sam Gamgee, I’m back. I’ve been on holiday this past week, and have conspicuously failed either to do much reading or reviewing. I have finally got around to starting Cordelia Fine’s Delusions of Gender, which … Continue reading →

Posted in Discussion, Feminism, Historical fiction, Not A Review | Tagged , , , , , | 2 Comments

Review of 2010 in books

Posted on January 3, 2011 by

I started the ‘Book A Week’ challenge on the Chaletian Bulletin Board in 2009, which certainly did a lot for my reading of ‘new’ books. For 2010 I aimed for one hundred books over the year, but didn’t manage to … Continue reading →

Posted in 2010 New Reads, Discussion, Links, Lists | Tagged , , , | 3 Comments

Not finishing books

Posted on December 14, 2010 by

I don’t often not finish books. Sometimes they take a long time to read, and a lot depends on what’s going on in my life in the mean time as to how quickly they get read and what time I’ll … Continue reading →

Posted in Discussion | 10 Comments

ALA Banned Books Week

Posted on September 28, 2010 by

This week the American Library Association is celebrating Banned Books Week. While the most frequently challenged books on the lists for each year are for books for or marketed at children or young adults, there are a fair number of … Continue reading →

Posted in Discussion, Links | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

Discussion – books by Dornford Yates

Posted on September 16, 2010 by

I’ve often tried to reason out why I enjoy Dornford Yates’s books so much, since there are things about them which I really don’t approve (Germanophobia, anti-Semitism, appalling attitudes towards the working classes, and so on) – “the school of … Continue reading →

Posted in Discussion, Fiction, Humour, Meta-review, Reviews, Thriller | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Discussion – genre fiction

Posted on August 30, 2010 by

I read a lot of so-called genre fiction – mainly detective novels, sci-fi and fantasy – and I’ve been wondering why certain books tend to be pigeon-holed as genre fiction and others don’t, when they’re superficially about the same concepts. … Continue reading →

Posted in Crime fiction, Discussion, Fantasy, Fiction, Historical fiction, Science fiction | Tagged , , , , , | 6 Comments

Travel books – Lawrence Durrell

Posted on August 17, 2010 by

My first acquaintance with Lawrence Durrell was as Gerald Durrell’s irascible brother Larry in ‘My Family and Other Animals‘, and then through his thriller, White Eagles over Serbia, and Antrobus stories. Recently I’ve been reading his travel books – the … Continue reading →

Posted in Discussion, Non-fiction, Reviews, Travel | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Novels of Robin McKinley – discussion

Posted on June 25, 2010 by

Robin McKinley is an American-born and British resident writer of fantasy whose books are generally marketed at the ‘Young Adult’ market, though not all of her books can be so described. I first encountered her novel ‘The Blue Sword’ as … Continue reading →

Posted in Discussion, Fantasy, Fiction, Meta-review, Reviews | Tagged , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Discussion – Diana Wynne Jones

Posted on June 18, 2010 by

This post has been prompted by the news that Diana Wynne Jones is suffering from cancer and that she has decided to stop her chemotherapy. Jones’ books have been important to me throughout my reading life – ever since I … Continue reading →

Posted in Discussion, Fiction, Meta-review, Reviews | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | 3 Comments