My first book for the #1925Club was Gentlemen Prefer Blondes where Anita Loos makes several sly, satirical references to the journalist, critic and public intellectual H. L. Mencken. He is unmistakably the model for one of her characters and a source of some of the book’s humor. Mencken admired Loos’s wit and he was one of her literary champions. She wrote it…Continue Reading→| Rattlebag and Rhubarb
Here are two poems by H.D. neither of which were written in 1925 but both of which were included in her Collected Poems of that year. Storm You crash over the trees, you crack the live branch— the branch is white, the green crushed, each leaf is rent like split wood. You burden the trees with black drops, you swirl…Continue Reading→| Rattlebag and Rhubarb
Agatha Christie’s “The Witness for the Prosecution”: Truth, Lies, and a Perfect Performance Christie published The Secret of Chimneys in 1925 and you can read an amusingly scathing review here. I am sure others may have more positive things to say. But Christie also published something else that year – a short story that has had a remarkable second life …Continue Reading→| Rattlebag and Rhubarb
“Richmal Crompton, I salute you.” That is the final sentence of Kate Atkinson’s afterword to her novel A God in Ruins. (2015). She is acknowledging, of course, her debt to Crompton’s William stories. Atkinson’s novel follows the life of Teddy Todd – would-be poet, bomber pilot, husband, father, and grandfather – as he navigates the turbulence of the twentieth century.…Continue Reading→| Rattlebag and Rhubarb
The Illuminating Diary of a Professional LadyReading Anita Loos’s Gentlemen Prefer Blondes “A gentleman friend and I were dining at the Ritz last evening and he said that if I took a pencil and a p…| Rattlebag and Rhubarb
After 10 years of Book Club challenges based on a specific year of publication, Karen and Simon chose 1925 for their 10th anniversary edition. I had a few options and found out some local history, …| Market Garden Reader
It’s the latest year reading Club hosted by Kaggsy & Simon. I couldn’t find any 1925 books in my TBR, but I have read and reviewed a couple of the greats published that year and a couple of others too. Links to full reviews are in the titles. Mrs Dalloway by Virginia Woolf The archetype Read More| AnnaBookBel
My only previous encounter with Aldous Huxley was his classic sci-fi novel Brave New World and I wasn’t all that aware of his ‘manor house’ novels – of which Those Barren Le…| 746books.com
This week I’m taking part in the 1925 Club hosted by Kaggsy and Simon, with a book that has become a massive part of the public consciousness. A century on, Franz Kafka’s The Trial – a quiet, bureaucratic horror – still feels alarmingly familiar and impressively prescient. The Trial opens with Josef K., a respectable…|
Radclyffe Hall’s name echoes through any history of early 20th century women’s writing, or queer writing. We all know that The Well of Loneliness was banned for its portrayal of a lesbian relationship (in the so so saucy words ‘that night| Stuck in a Book
Historically, I always like to feature some classic crime on the Ramblings for the first day of our Club Reading Weeks – and more often than not, it turns out to be Agatha Christie! The 1920s were certainly a Golden Age for crime fiction, but 1925’s Christie title was “The Secret of Chimneys” and somehow […]| Kaggsy's Bookish Ramblings
Monday sees the launch of our 10th Anniversary Club Reading Week, where we’re focusing on the year 1925. It was a stellar one, which saw the publication of some classic books, and we’re very much looking forward to hearing about what you read. I will have a dedicated page on my site, and you can […]| Kaggsy's Bookish Ramblings
As we continue to edge further into Autumn, I’ve had yet another great month of reading – which surprised me a little, as it was fairly busy both at home and at work! However, I have continued to enjoy my reading with a lovely range of titles and here are September’s reads: In case the […]| Kaggsy's Bookish Ramblings
Thank you to everyone who took part in the 1952 Club and, yes, I still indeed to read lots more posts(!) – and thank you especially to everyone who submitted ideas for the special 10th anniversary club reading week in| Stuck in a Book
