Drharrietd

LATEST ARTICLES ( 303 )

• Happy Christmas Pics

  

  I wanted to find a nice picture to wish you all a happy Christmas but couldn't decided which one, so here's a selection to chooose from, ranging from the jolly... Read more

  Posted on 24 December 2012 BOOKS, CULTURE

• Woman Reading

  

  This is 'Grace Reading at Howth Bay', by Sir William Orpen, painted c.1900. I found it on Virago Modern Classics Readers Facebook page and could not resist... Read more

  Posted on 22 December 2012 BOOKS, CULTURE

• How Many Books?

  I don't seem to have the energy at the moment to do a full list of best of 2012, so I've revived this, which first appeared on here in 2009. How many books... Read more

  Posted on 17 December 2012 BOOKS, CULTURE

• Woman Reading

  

  Why do we love pictures of people reading so much? I think it's often because of the expressions of total absorption the artist captures. Read more

  Posted on 15 December 2012 BOOKS, CULTURE

• The Long Song

  

  I started this novel a year or more ago, but quickly got irritated with it and put it aside. Why I picked it up again this week I can't say, but this time I rea... Read more

  Posted on 14 December 2012 BOOKS, CULTURE

• My Week in Bed

  

  I've not been very well this week -- nothing serious, just an annoying virus that has me running a temperature and completely off my food (this latter being... Read more

  Posted on 07 December 2012 BOOKS, CULTURE

• Oh Dear I've Got an iPad

  It's a well known fact that I'm in love with technology. But I could never justify getting an iPad when I already had a MacBook and an iPhone - never that is... Read more

  Posted on 01 December 2012 BOOKS, CULTURE

• Gielgoodies

  

  Anyone who knows about the history of the British theatre will know about John Gielgud, perhaps the greatest actor of the last century. Read more

  Posted on 22 November 2012 BOOKS, CULTURE

• Woman with Book

  

  This is Marguerite Countess of Blessington. I've no information about who engraved this portrait, which was done sometime in the 1830s. Read more

  Posted on 17 November 2012 BOOKS

• Le Meurtre De Roger Ackroyd

  

  I am very fond of Agatha Christie and have read many of her novels over the years. But amazingly enough I had never read The Murder of Roger Ackroyd, despite it... Read more

  Posted on 12 November 2012 BOOKS

• Odd Girl Out

  

  So -- I went to Guernsey for the day last week -- it's a beautiful little island, and not that hard to reach from St Malo, near where I live. Read more

  Posted on 07 November 2012 BOOKS

• Reading

  

  The book I'm reading is Elizabeth Jane Howard's Odd Girl Out. I read and loved her Cazalet Chronicles in pre-blogging days but had never encountered this... Read more

  Posted on 04 November 2012 BOOKS

• Woman Playing Lute

  

  Actually Lady with a Lute, painted in 1886 by the American artist Thomas Wilmer Dewing (1851-1938). According to Wikipedia, " Dewing's preferred vehicle of... Read more

  Posted on 03 November 2012 BOOKS

• The Wedding Group Reprise

  

  If you've been joining in the monthly readalongs for Elizabeth Taylor's Centenery Year, you'll know that October was the month for The Wedding Group. Read more

  Posted on 31 October 2012 BOOKS

• Another Woman with Another Book

  

  This painting is by the rather interesting sounding Mabel Alvarez (1891-1985). I've just been looking at some more of her paintings, almost all portraits of... Read more

  Posted on 27 October 2012 BOOKS

• Woman with Book

  

  This is The Japanese Mask by the multi-first-named Gustave-Claude-Etienne Courtois (1852-1923). Wikipedia's short entry on him begins by telling us that he... Read more

  Posted on 20 October 2012 BOOKS

• Elizabeth Taylor Short Stories

  

  It seems ages since dear Virago kindly sent me this wonderful book, but it was probably actually a couple of months ago. Now you may or may not know (no reason... Read more

  Posted on 18 October 2012 BOOKS

• Island of Steel

  

  I've always been fascinated by the Channel Islands, or the Isles Anglo-Normandes, as the French call them. Most people think they are part of the UK but... Read more

  Posted on 10 October 2012 BOOKS

• Rogue Male

  

  A few weeks ago I was listening to BBC Radio 4 Extra and happened to hear an episode of Rogue Male. Many many years ago I had read this remarkable novel -... Read more

  Posted on 09 October 2012 BOOKS

• A Willing Victim

  

  This is the fourth of Laura Wilson's 'Stratton' series of crime novels, which are set in the 1940s and 50s, and feature the appealing DI Ted Stratton. Read more

  Posted on 08 October 2012 BOOKS