StuckinaBook’s Weekend Miscellany – Stuck in a Book
Happy weekend, everyone! I’m off to a wedding – for the past five or six years, I’ve been down to one wedding a year. How did I ever have the energy to go to five or so in a year?…| Stuck in a Book
Happy weekend, everyone! I’m off to a wedding – for the past five or six years, I’ve been down to one wedding a year. How did I ever have the energy to go to five or so in a year?…| Stuck in a Book
I’m delighted that Recovered Books is making G.E. Trevelyan’s novels available again, because they have been so very difficult to get hold of. The next (after they published Two Thousan…| Stuck in a Book
One of the questions asked about Gertrude Trevelyan (the artist formerly known as G.E. Trevelyan) is why she has disappeared, when her writing is so good and her early reviews were glowing. One ans…| Stuck in a Book
Recovered Books by Boiler House Press continue their admirable work of bringing out G.E. Trevelyan’s novels and sent me Trance By Appointment back in March. I read it in July and I’m fi…| Stuck in a Book
For my second and final entry to this year’s Women in Translation month, I’ve read The Dry Heart (1947) by Natalia Ginzburg, translated from Italian by Frances Frenaye. I’ve read …| Stuck in a Book
Well, we have got ahead of ourselves. But ‘we’ I mean ‘I’. Because the calendar is saying it’s late August, and my Project 24 tally says that September has already end…| Stuck in a Book
Sally Carson, Katherine Dunning, and the weather – welcome to episode 141! In the first half, Rachel and I discuss significant weather scenes in novels, and whether knowing about the weather …| Stuck in a Book
My first stop for the 1937 Club is Theatre by W. Somerset Maugham. I bought my copy in 2011, drawn (as ever) to any novel about the theatre. And what could be more about the theatre than a novel wh…| Stuck in a Book
A few years ago, one of my favourite reads was Suddenly, A Knock on the Door by Israeli short story writer Etgar Keret – so when I saw that a new collection had been published, I was keen to get| Stuck in a Book
I wanted to join in Women in Translation month, so was looking around my shelves for possible candidates – and chose Follow Your Heart (1994) by Susanna Tamaro, translated from Italian by Avril Bardoni. I picked it up in a nearby| Stuck in a Book
I had a few days where I couldn’t get into this blog, and the advice I got in various forums was kind but totally incomprehensible to me (PHP error log, who she?) – but the good people at the hosting| Stuck in a Book
I’m always excited when a new reprint publishing house pops up – and there are so many out there now, whether imprints from big publishing houses or tiny indies. Obviously I think the British Library Women Writers list is the| Stuck in a Book
Happy weekend, everyone! I will be hither and thither for much of it, so I’m glad the heatwave is over. I’m also finding myself not super in the mood for reading at the moment, which is very unlike me and| Stuck in a Book
Ever since discovering the miraculously good O, The Brave Music by Dorothy Evelyn Smith, I’ve been steadily making my way through her other novels – wondering if anything will be equal to it. I’ve enjoyed everything I’ve read by her, though| Stuck in a Book
It’s time for our favourite 10 books from 10 years of ‘Tea or Books?’! Rachel and I have looked through the books we read for the first ten years of the podcast and have each picked our ten favourites –| Stuck in a Book
Ten years ago, I wrote a blog post about my changing relationship with Richmal Crompton. She’d gone from being a favourite author I raced through in my late teens to being an author I felt a little less sure about| Stuck in a Book
It was only towards the end of reading Snow Road Station (2023) by Elizabeth Hay that I realised it was a sequel to an earlier book but, you know what, I don’t think it mattered. I bought it in Oxford’s loveliest| Stuck in a Book
I have only read one Susan Ertz novel before Woman Alive (1935) and it was a good, fairly traditional novel about generations of a family tangled up in domestic disputes and hopes. Nothing very unexpected, though a good version of that kind| Stuck in a Book
I have a handful of ‘want’ alerts set up at abebooks – books that aren’t currently available anywhere, at least not affordably, so that I get an email when they turn up. It’s how I got my hands on Cynthia| Stuck in a Book
One of the loveliest parts of being Series Consultant for the British Library Women Writers series is getting to speak to the relatives of authors we’re republishing. When the extraordinarily good The Spring Begins by Katherine Dunning was brought back| Stuck in a Book
Man, this hay fever is wiping me out. I’m so tired with it! And that’s even without taking the antihistamines that make me super drowsy (I’m taking the less drowsy ones). This is all small fry, but it’s my poor| Stuck in a Book
Shirley Jackson, Elspeth Barker, and your emails – welcome to episode 139 of Tea or Books?! Can you believe we’ve been going for ten years? It’s wild to me! In the first half of the episode we compare two gothic-inspired| Stuck in a Book
It’s episode 22 of Peas in a Podcast, the podcast I do with my identical twin brother Colin! Discover which of us secretly doesn’t think we should do this podcast (it’s him). And I honestly don’t remember what else we| Stuck in a Book
Following on from my thoughts on Recommended! by Nicola Wilson, here’s another book so up my street that it feels like a personal favour. Foolishly, I have delayed writing my review for months – I finished it at the beginning of March| Stuck in a Book
Sometimes there comes along a book you never even hoped you’d get to read – something so totally up your street that it feels almost like a personal kindness that the author was willing to write. Such is Recommend! (2025) by| Stuck in a Book
I have a teetering pile of E.F. Benson novels I’ve not read – he was so prolific, and some of his books aren’t that easy to come across, so I always snap up any that I find in the wild.| Stuck in a Book
Hope you’re having a good weekend! I have a jam-packed one, seeing lots of friends (and also the musical Titanique, which I’m very excited about). Along the way, I’ll be having my first ever Peruvian meal, or at least what| Stuck in a Book
I haven’t updated you on my Project 24 buying for a good while – and please know that that is absolutely not because I’ve been behaving on that front. In fact, I’m getting ahead of where I should be. Let’s go| Stuck in a Book
I finished A Book A Day In May today with O Caledonia (1991) by Elspeth Baker. Rachel and I will be pitting it against The Sundial by Shirley Jackson in the next episode of Tea or Books?, so I won’t jump the gun by| Stuck in a Book
Back in 2012, I read Jean Kerr’s best-known book, apparently turned into a beloved film, Please Don’t Eat The Daisies. She followed it in 1960 with The Snake Has All The Lines – a curious title that apparently comes from her son being| Stuck in a Book
Coming towards the end of A Book A Day In May, I’ve read a couple of books that weren’t particularly bad, but left me pretty underwhelmed. So let’s race through them. One Writer’s Beginnings (1984) by Eudora Welty I’ve only| Stuck in a Book
I think I stumbled across Eastwards and Far (2023) by Chris Lee-Francis on Lee-Francis’s Twitter profile, and was intrigued enough to order a copy pronto. As a memoir of cycling across Canada, it combines something I love reading about (Canada)| Stuck in a Book
I have long meant to read Joan Didion, but didn’t really know what her writing would be like. I knew she wrote about grief in My Year of Magical Thinking, but – despite having read various reviews of her books over| Stuck in a Book
A super quick mini-episode – well, not really an episode – asking for your contributions to the next episode of ‘Tea or Books?’. It will be TEN YEARS since Rachel and I first put an episode out into the ether| Stuck in a Book
I was away for the weekend with my church, and so I thought what better what to efficiently cover off three titles for A Book A Day In May than with a trilogy in one paperback? I was also chatting| Stuck in a Book
Today I finished the audiobook of Careless People (2025), the recent memoir-exposé by Sarah Wynn-Williams about her time at Facebook. After a chapter about surviving a shark attack as a child, seemingly only included because how could you not mention something like that,| Stuck in a Book
I’ve read a couple of books by Michael Frayn from later in his career, but it’s quite a departure to read his debut novel – The Tin Men (1965). It is a raucous satire of – well, of quite a few things.| Stuck in a Book
Crossing Day 20 feels like we’re on the home stretch, and I am still really enjoying doing A Book A Day in May – certainly finding it much easier than last year, when my eyes were still pretty ropey eight| Stuck in a Book
Unlike Madame Bibi, I am getting behind with my reviewing – I am still managing to finish a book a day in May, and that’s the main thing, but telling you about them is another thing. My latest excuse is| Stuck in a Book
Playing catch up with some quick thoughts about three books – one of which was excellent, one of which was very good, and one of which is absolutely not my cup of tea. Day 14 – Box Office Poison (2024)| Stuck in a Book
There is something very reassuring about Calvin Trillin’s non-fiction. In the UK I think he is best known, if at all, as the author of Tepper Isn’t Going Out. That was my first encounter with his work, after Thomas/Hogglestock correctly thought| Stuck in a Book
When I was in Canada a couple of years ago, I was on the hunt for Canadian writers – but with the proviso that I wanted them to be writing about Canada. On the plane on the way home, I| Stuck in a Book
Carter Dickson is the not-especially-hidden pseudonym of John Dickson Carr, and he wrote murder mysteries under both names and a handful more. He specialises in the locked-room mystery, which is one of my favourite tropes – though I have only| Stuck in a Book
Elizabeth Jane Howard, Brian Moore, and authors’ personal lives – welcome to episode 138! In the first half of the episode, we do a question that Lindsey suggested: do we care about authors’ personal lives? It takes us to questions| Stuck in a Book
It’s been a busy day, but I finished an audiobook that I borrowed from the library: The Cement Garden (1978) by Ian McEwan. And boy, what a journey that novella is. I don’t have much time today, so we’re going to| Stuck in a Book
Ernest Hemingway is one of those big-name authors that I’ve never previously read. Truth be told, I’ve always assumed that I wouldn’t like his books, and that’s only partly because he seems so unlikeable as a person. When I think| Stuck in a Book
It’s been quite a while since I read a graphic novel, and A Book A Day In May seemed like an excellent opportunity to remedy that. I bought Alison (2022) by Lizzy Stewart last year, on the basis of having seen it| Stuck in a Book
I’m only buying 24 books this year, and so naturally I’m choosing them carefully. I knew I had to have The Odd Woman and the City (2015) by Vivian Gornick when Jacqui wrote a brilliant review in January (and it certainly| Stuck in a Book
Many people have spoken highly of Stella Gibbons’ The Woods in Winter (1970) – including when I ranked her novels. It comes very late in her body of work, though is almost entirely set several decades early than its publication date| Stuck in a Book
I was away for the Bank Holiday weekend, which is why I’m behind with reviewing books for A Book A Day In May – but I did manage to keep reading, hopefully without being too antisocial to the friends I’d| Stuck in a Book
The Happy Ending (1957) is the third book in Leo Walmsley’s trilogy of autobiographical novels – starting with Love in the Sun and followed (rather later) by The Golden Waterwheel. Clicking on those links will take you to my enthusiastic reviews, and I’ve| Stuck in a Book
It’s May, and that means it’s A Book A Day in May time! I’m delighted to see that Madame Bibi is back at the challenge too, and I thank her for inspiring me every year to take it up. It’s| Stuck in a Book
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
What a fun 1952 Club it’s been! I’ve tried to collect all of your reviews, though do let me know if I’ve missed anything – and I have an awful lot of them still to read, as it’s been a| Stuck in a Book
My post about Travel Light by Naomi Mitchison is going to be short – because what on earth was I thinking, back in 2012, when I bought this Virago Modern Classic? Well, maybe I’ve answered my own question there. It’s a VMC,| Stuck in a Book
There was a time when I would indiscriminately buy almost any book connected to the Bloomsbury Group. To a certain extent, that’s a book-buying era I’m still living – but I don’t seem to read them as voraciously as I| Stuck in a Book
I’m always willing to take a punt on a cheaply priced mid-century novel by a British woman, and that’s how Fever of Love by Rosamond Harcourt-Smith ended up in my hands on a trip to Hay-on-Wye a while ago. That was| Stuck in a Book
Almost any club year will have a host of vintage murder mysteries (and Neeru always comes up with some good candidates) – 1952 is no exception. I’m not sure when the Golden Age technically ended, so this is probably after| Stuck in a Book
Paul Gallico is one of the most varied writers I’ve encountered. Not just in terms of quality – though that’s probably true – but in terms of the types of books he writes. He’s perhaps best known in the blogging| Stuck in a Book
It is a truth universally acknowledged that every club year will have appearances by Georges Simenon and Georgette Heyer – but there’s another prolific mid-century writer who usually turns up too. While P.G. Wodehouse didn’t write a novel every year,| Stuck in a Book
I bought The Equations of Love by Ethel Wilson in Canada back in 2017, based on her being a Persephone author. Since then, I’ve read another couple of novels by her – but I think this overlooked gem might be her| Stuck in a Book
The Spring Begins by Katherine Dunning was my favourite read of last year, and has been reprinted in the British Library Women Writers series (hurrah!) so naturally that set me off to see what else Dunning had written. At the| Stuck in a Book
One of the things I love about our clubs are when it leads me to read books that have languished on my shelves for years – and they end up exceeding my expectations. In some cases, by a long way.| Stuck in a Book
The first post-it that came out of my 1952 Club bowl was Treasure Hunt by M.J. Farrell – the pseudonym of Molly Keane, and my Virago Modern Classic uses both names on the cover, though the newer edition pictured above doesn’t| Stuck in a Book
It’s episode 21 of the podcast I do with my identical twin bro Colin! In this episode we discuss international standard units of measurements, big apples, tips for job interviews, and Dr Crippen. All the usual stuff.| Stuck in a Book
As you may know, if you’ve been here for a while, my doctoral thesis looked at fantastic novels – specifically those aimed at a middlebrow audience, published between the World Wars. By ‘fantastic’, I mean that they are set in| Stuck in a Book
Resolved endings, Pamela Hansford Johnson, Vincenzo Latronico – welcome to episode 137 of Tea or Books?! In the first half of the episode, we take a suggestion from Lindsey – do we prefer resolved or unresolved endings? In the second half,| Stuck in a Book
Happy weekend! I will be celebrating two of my lovely godchildren this weekend – the 1st birthday of one and the Christening of another. (Wish me luck getting a cake on the train and the tube!) Very exciting and lovely,| Stuck in a Book
I have Karen to thank for highlighting the fact that Ethel Lina White was Welsh – Karen contributed a review of Fear Stalks The Village to Reading Wales Month, which is run by a different blogging Karen! Well, that was all| Stuck in a Book
Did you know (and why on earth should you) that yesterday was the second anniversary of my Unnecessary Rankings? How did we ever survive for so long without it, I’m sure you’re asking. Well, today I’m going for a Big| Stuck in a Book
Is it spring? Is it still winter? We’re being kept on our toes here. By the time you read this, I’ll be doing a treasure hunt around Oxford (no real idea what it entails) and it’s meant to RAIN, so we’ll| Stuck in a Book
It is very surprising to me how many of my Project 24 books so far have been IN PRINT. It’s quite unusual for me at the best of times, but particularly when I’m narrowing my gaze to limited buying. Truth| Stuck in a Book
I don’t think I’ve managed to join in Reading Wales before – an annual project led by Karen at Booker Talk. To be honest, that’s largely because I have no idea which authors on my shelves are Welsh. I imagine| Stuck in a Book
Agatha Christie, Gwen Bristow, Bruce Manning and reading morality – welcome to episode 136 of Tea or Books?! In the first half of this episode, we discuss whether or not we take moral instruction from the books we read –| Stuck in a Book
Spring seems to have sprung. I went out without a coat! It’s all happening. And, since it’s International Women’s Day, I thought I’d mention the blog post I posted last year – ranking the British Library Women Writers titles. A| Stuck in a Book
I’m on track with Project 24 – buying just 24 books in 2025 – with my restrained rate of two-per-month. It was while reading Pipers and a Dancer by Stella Benson that I decided I should probably make sure I had| Stuck in a Book
Happy March! Here in the UK we seem to be alternating bright sunshine and torrential rain. As I write this, it’s one of the sunny days – cold, sunny weather is my favourite, and hopefully it’ll continue as I jaunt| Stuck in a Book
My second (and final?) contribution to this year’s #ReadIndies is an autobiography that was sent to me by CB Editions – Flickerbook (1997) by Leila Berg. It was a very canny choice of reiew book to send, given my recent| Stuck in a Book
February is drawing to an end, but I’ve managed to get in with a Read Indies post – #ReadIndies being an annual event run by Karen and Lizzy, encouraging us all to read books from independent publishers. In this case,| Stuck in a Book
It’s that time again, where I blitz through a whole bunch of books I’ve read or listened to in the past few months. Think of it like that viral guy on Instagram who rates outfits at awards events in one| Stuck in a Book
Who’d have thought we’d get to episode 20? In the latest ep, my brother Colin and I cover all the usual important topics: shredded lettuce, the Suez canal, and Kaitlyn Dever. Not in conjunction. Hope you enjoy! And honestly, who| Stuck in a Book
We’re halfway through February, and that means I’m due another book under Project 24, right? I was in London for a couple of days, and remembered about a lovely little bookshop called Walden Books, in Camden. I’ve only been there| Stuck in a Book
Isabella Hammad, Norah Lofts, comfort reads – welcome to episode 135! In the first half, we discuss whether or not literary fiction can be comfort reads – thank you for the suggestion, Marcy! In the second half, we compare| Stuck in a Book
Well, thank GOODNESS January is finally over. I can’t believe it was only a month. I feel like I’ve lived lifetimes in January, and none of them very good. Some of that I will share in due course, and other| Stuck in a Book
While trying to think whom to cover for another Unnecessary Rankings! post, I was looking around my bookcases and alighted on Daphne du Maurier. She was prolific, and I’ve read quite a few of her books. But I am slightly| Stuck in a Book
This is part of an ongoing series where I write about a different author for each letter of the alphabet. You can see them all here. How has it been 2.5 years since I last added to this series? Time –| Stuck in a Book
Project 24 is in full swing! If you missed it, it’s a year where I only buy 24 books for myself. This must be the fourth time I’ve done Project 24, at least, and it’s always a fun experiment in| Stuck in a Book
I first came across Letters to Gwen John by Celia Paul simply by browsing in Waterstones Piccadilly. It was on one of those display tables, and I was struck by how beautiful it was. Jonathan Cape have done a lovely job. It’s| Stuck in a Book
Have I said on here that I’m doing Project 24 again in 2025? I think I’ll do it ever two or three years, to try and stem the flow of books into my house – and to read more books| Stuck in a Book
Hello, podcast fans! It’s the 19th episode of the podcast I do with my twin brother Colin. In this episode, we cover vital topics like Olympic sports we wouldn’t die during, petty rules we’d make if we were dictators, and| Stuck in a Book
Happy new year, everyone. As has become an annual tradition for so many of us in the book blogging world, let’s take a look back at 2024 in reading stats! (Hopefully you’ve already spotted my favourite reads of the year.)| Stuck in a Book
Happy new year! In episode 134, Rachel and I share our favourite books reads in 2024 – counting down from ten to one. And we each pick one of the other’s top 10 to read for our next episode! Thanks| Stuck in a Book
One of my favourite bookish moments of the year is sitting down with my reading diary – a list of the books I’ve read since 2002 – and choosing my favourites of the year. Usually there are some that jump| Stuck in a Book
My final slot on A Century of Books turned out to be 1990, and I decided to read The Inn at the Edge of the World by Alice Thomas Ellis, which I bought last year in the Lake District. When I| Stuck in a Book
You know when Caustic Cover Critic used to those funny posts of appalling cheap reprints of classics? Here’s an example. Among those that are simply confusing were a few that clearly put the title into some sort of search engine| Stuck in a Book
When I ranked Muriel Spark’s novels recently, there were a couple I hadn’t yet read. A few people had good words to say about The Bachelor though nobody seemed very enthusiastic about Aiding and Abetting. But the latter filled one of my| Stuck in a Book
I was quite a way into my choice for 1969 on A Century of Books – Margaret Drabble’s The Waterfall – when I decided I’d had enough. I’m sure I’ll go back and finish it and, in another mood, might even| Stuck in a Book
When I had a cold a month ago, feeling sorry for myself and tired, the latest Slightly Foxed Edition arrived through my door. I was a bit surprised that it was the series’ first fictional offering, but delighted to add| Stuck in a Book
Willa Cather and reading rules – welcome to episode 133 of ‘Tea or Books?’! In the first half, we discuss reading rules – when we’re picking up a book, are there certain things that will definitely put us off? In| Stuck in a Book
As December continues apace, so does my need to catch up with A Century of Books posts. So here is a whole bunch of mini-reviews (more mini than review) of books I’ve read for ACOB that I don’t have a| Stuck in a Book
