'Vivre le livre!'
aaaand inevitably, my plans go out of the window As I mentioned at the end of July, I had made a modest pile of books for August s Women in Translation Month, and for two titles I ve stuck to my plans. However, I saw mention online (I think via a Penguin newsletter) of new editions of [ ]
I seem to have spent a lot of time recently involved in books which deal with the horrors of the 20th century; maybe it s a reaction to what s happening in our current world where it seems that the human race hasn t moved on at all since then. Today s book is a title I ve had on [ ]
For once, my reading plans are actually proceeding as expected. My first read for Women in Translation Month is a book which was on my pile of possibles and is a relatively recent arrival The Crib by Albertine Sarrazin, translated by Sonya Moor. I first read Sarrazin back in 2019 for the #1965Club; the [ ]
Despite my best efforts to focus on the books which are languishing on the TBR, there are occasions when my eye is caught by a fascinating new title and I have to source a copy to read straight away. That happened recently when Grant shared his thoughts on The Name on the Wall by Herve [ ]
Back in 2018 I was lucky enough to cover a marvellous book from Notting Hill Editions, How Shostakovich Changed My Life by Stephen Johnson. A powerful and personal book, it touched on some big topics: wide ranging discussions of history and philosophy; touching encounters; compelling autobiography and personal experience; and a powerful belief in the [ ]
I ve always been fond of a good essay, and a search through the archives of the Ramblings would no doubt reveal a number of essay collections I ve covered. Some of these would have been via indie publisher Michael Walmer s Belles-Lettres series (Oscar Wilde, Winifred Holtby and Ouida) and so I was delighted to see that [ ]
I may be a little less visible than usual online over the next few weeks, as my mother sadly passed away this week following a long decline into dementia. It has been painful to watch her become not herself any more but in many ways it s a relief to know she s now at peace. Dementia [ ]
For some reason, July ended up being a month in which I read a number of chunky books (which I hadn t necessarily planned ) and so although the total of books read was less than usual, I think the number of pages compensates for that! And here they are: As usual, here s a list in case [ ]
As I mentioned in last week s post about a pair of British Library Crime Classics, I have been very spoiled by publishers recently, and the second press to send some GA crime over has been Galileo Publishers. I ve covered a number of their titles here on the Ramblings, and they do issue some really interesting [ ]
When it comes to mystery books, I tend as a rule to stick to Golden Age Crime which is a huge favourite of mine. However, I was recently offered the chance to review a new collection of modern shorts stories gathered in a Crime Writers Association anthology: Guilty Secrets. Edited by Martin Edwards, it sounded [ ]