Category Archives: Meta-review

The books of Mary Stewart – part 1

Posted on May 24, 2011 by

Mary Stewart is perhaps best known for her five Arthurian novels, beginning with The Crystal Cave (which I haven’t read, and thus am not going to write about now), but I first came across her ‘romantic-suspense’ novels some time ago … Continue reading →

Posted in 2011 New Reads, Fiction, Meta-review, Reviews, Romance, Thriller | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 4 Comments

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 →

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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 →

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C. J. Sansom’s Tudor mysteries

Posted on April 21, 2009 by

Dissolution / Dark Fire / Sovereign – C. J. Sansom These are a trilogy of Tudor-set detective novels which provide a vivid and thrilling glimpse into England during the 1530s and 1540s, during the later part of the reign of … Continue reading →

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Miss Silver detective novels – Patricia Wentworth

Posted on April 9, 2009 by

I’ve been re-reading several of these books recently (they’ve been re-issued in rather nice retro covers, all from old advertising archives). I’d been vaguely aware of Wentworth’s mystery novels, featuring her former-governess detective, Miss Maud Silver, but only remembered reading … Continue reading →

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