Monthly Archives: July 2014

Beyond the Beautiful Forevers.

I just rated this a five on Goodreads, but I almost couldn’t read it. Katherine Boo is an investigative reporter, and spent three years immersed in the life of a Mumbai slum. If it were not a choice of my … Continue reading

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Northanger Abbey X 2

The Austen Project‘s second publication was Northanger Abbey, by Val McDermid. As with Sense and Sensibility, I read it alongside the original, with great enjoyment. Northanger Abbey is, of course, Jane Austen’s comment on gothic novels, and contains her musing … Continue reading

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Sense and Sensibility X 2

All of Jane Austen’s novels are being published anew, written as set in the modern world, by modern popular novelists. P&P has had this treatment already, and spin-offs, such as Bridget Jones’ Diary and Death Comes to Pemberley, but I … Continue reading

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The Bookman’s Tale

This sounds Chaucerian? No, The Bookman’s Tale, by  Charlie Lovett,  is a Shakespearian mystery, tightly plotted, moving between the modern day and Shakespeare’s England. Although it contains a mystery- who is the mystery woman in a portrait the bookman finds, strongly … Continue reading

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Shadows of the Workhouse

Why did I choose this book from the library? Because the two little boys on the cover looked very like two of my brothers. It was the sepia tone, plus the 50s “short back and sides” haircut, the pullovers, short … Continue reading

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A Friend- real or otherwise

My youngest brother had an imaginary friend, whose name I have forgotten, but neither of my parents, nor any of us kids, had heard of the phenomenon. We all thought the friend was a real kid with whom my brother … Continue reading

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