Monthly Archives: April 2011

To Miss with Love – Katharine Birbalsingh

Posted on April 30, 2011 by Ela

(Penguin 2011) This book tells the story of a year in the life of a school in inner-city London, from the point of view of a committed teacher. It’s been put together from a blog where Birbalsingh called herself ‘Ms … Continue reading →

Posted in 2011 New Reads, Fiction, Non-fiction, Reviews | Tagged , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

District and Circle – Seamus Heaney

Posted on April 28, 2011 by Ela

(Faber 2006) I don’t read much poetry, though I tend to have an emotional rather than a reasoned reaction to it. I like poetry where the poet has seemed to consider his or her words carefully, hesitated for a long … Continue reading →

Posted in 2011 New Reads, Reviews | Tagged , , , , , | 3 Comments

Moon Called – Patricia Briggs

Posted on April 26, 2011 by Ela

(Hachette Digital 2006) Mercy Thompson series, book 1 I’d seen this series recommended to me on Amazon, but it was only when I read a review on the Book Smugglers blog of the latest in the series that I decided … Continue reading →

Posted in 2011 New Reads, Fantasy, Fiction, Read on my Kindle, Reviews | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 3 Comments

Thirteenth Child – Patricia Wrede

Posted on April 24, 2011 by Ela

(Scholastic 2009) I heard about this book through the Book Smugglers’ blog, and, since I’ve loved Patricia Wrede’s other books (the Enchanted Forest books, her short stories, the Mairelon the magician books and her collaborations with Caroline Stevermer), I got … Continue reading →

Posted in 2011 New Reads, Fantasy, Fiction, Read on my Kindle, Reviews | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

The Nine Tailors – Dorothy L. Sayers

Posted on April 22, 2011 by Ela

(Hodder 2003, originally published 1934) The Nine Tailors is, arguably, Sayers’ best detective novel. It doesn’t sprawl, like Gaudy Night, and, although concerned with a dead body and how it got that way, is also concerned with family, personal honour … Continue reading →

Posted in Crime fiction, Fiction, Re-read, Read on my Kindle, Reviews | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Zodiac – Neal Stephenson

Posted on April 20, 2011 by Ela

(Grove Press 1988) This is one of Stephenson’s early speculative thrillers, though it’s not until a fair way through the book that the future-prediction becomes apparent. Sangamon Taylor lives in a low-rent house in Boston with a few others; he’s … Continue reading →

Posted in 2011 New Reads, Fiction, Read on my Kindle, Science fiction, Thriller | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | 3 Comments

Lisa and Co. – Jilly Cooper

Posted on April 19, 2011 by Ela

(Corgi e-book: stories from 1967-1981, collected 1981) This is an entertaining if rather dated collection of short stories about love and loss; dated because of the attitudes on display towards working women, and those of the women themselves, who seem … Continue reading →

Posted in Fiction, Re-read, Read on my Kindle, Reviews, Romance | Tagged , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

The Best of Jennings – Anthony Buckeridge

Posted on April 17, 2011 by Ela

(Sevenoaks 2010) Jennings Goes To School (1950) / Jennings Follows A Clue (1951) / Jennings’ Little Hut (1951) / Jennings and Darbishire (1952) The Jennings stories originally came to life in 1948 as a series of radio plays on Children’s … Continue reading →

Posted in 2011 New Reads, Fiction, Humour, Re-read, Reviews | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

To The Lighthouse – Virginia Woolf

Posted on April 15, 2011 by Ela

(Oxford World Classics 2008, first published 1927) I’d never read anything by Virginia Woolf before Nymeth’s review of To the Lighthouse inspired me to seek it out (I have a copy of Orlando which I’d tried reading some years ago, … Continue reading →

Posted in 2011 New Reads, Feminism, Fiction, Reviews | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | 4 Comments

Fables 3: Storybook Love – Bill Willingham et alia

Posted on April 12, 2011 by Ela

(Vertigo 2004) Spoilers in this review for events happening in the first and second collections. This third collection of Fables begins with a one-off story about Jack’s experiences during the American Civil War, and how he obtained and used a … Continue reading →

Posted in 2011 New Reads, Fantasy, Fiction, Reviews | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments