Erica

LATEST ARTICLES ( 397 )

• Christopher Strong – the Movie, Not the Novel

  Review by Val H.  Movies are new on this blog but there are strong middlebrow links. In 1933 Hollywood released Christopher Strong, based on Gilbert Frankau’s... Read more

  Posted on 24 February 2015 BOOKS, CULTURE

• The Merry Muse, by Eric Linklater (1959)

  

  Review by Val H ‘Eric Linklater’s Latest!’ proclaims my copy of The Merry Muse (Jonathan Cape, 1959) in large letters.  Bloomsbury, which publishes it as an... Read more

  Posted on 23 February 2015 BOOKS, CULTURE

• The Heart of a Goof by P G Wodehouse (1926)

  

  Review by Jane V: The Heart of a Goof consists of nine stories related by the Oldest Member of a golf club.  He sits aside from the action puffing a cigar and... Read more

  Posted on 16 February 2015 BOOKS, CULTURE

• Eggs, Beans and Crumpets by P G Wodehouse (1940)

  Review by George Simmers: This collection of short stories features several familiar Wodehouse characters. Four centre on Bingo Little, familiar from stories... Read more

  Posted on 04 February 2015 BOOKS, CULTURE

• Piccadilly Jim by P. G. Wodehouse (1917)

  

  Review by Sylvia D: Piccadilly Jim (1917) was a suitable choice for Christmas reading – easy to read and very light-hearted.  It does though have an extremely... Read more

  Posted on 02 February 2015 BOOKS, CULTURE

• Fairy Gold by Compton Mackenzie (1926)

  A late entry to our run of Compton Mackenzie reviews… Review by Helen C: It is 1917, and young Dick Deverell has been invalided out of the army and posted to ma... Read more

  Posted on 30 January 2015 BOOKS, CULTURE

• Ukridge by P. G. Wodehouse (1924)

  

  The aim of our collection at Sheffield Hallam University is to preserve, read and research popular novels that are in danger of being lost and forgotten. You... Read more

  Posted on 27 January 2015 BOOKS, CULTURE

• Rogues and Vagabonds by Compton Mackenzie (1927)

  

  Review by Thecla W: The novel opens in 1829 with a display at Neptune’s Grotto, a pleasure garden in London. Letizia, the lively daughter of Mme Oriano, owner o... Read more

  Posted on 20 January 2015 BOOKS, CULTURE

• Guy and Pauline by Compton Mackenzie (1915)

  Review by Val H: In 1915, when he published Guy and Pauline (Plashers Mead in the USA), Compton Mackenzie was near the beginning of his long career and fame.  H... Read more

  Posted on 15 January 2015 BOOKS, CULTURE

• Carnival by Compton Mackenzie (1912)

  Review by Margaret B: This is the story of Jenny Pearl, starting with her birth in respectable working-class/ lower middle-class Islington. Read more

  Posted on 12 January 2015 BOOKS, CULTURE

• Compton Mackenzie (1883-1972)

  

  Sir Edward Montague Anthony Compton Mackenzie (1883-1972) came from a theatrical and bohemian family. He was the son of the actor/manager Edward Compton... Read more

  Posted on 09 January 2015 BOOKS, CULTURE

• Christmas with the Starkadders

  Even with the best will in the world Christmas can be a bit… trying, can it not? But at least you can be grateful you are not celebrating Christmas at Cold... Read more

  Posted on 19 December 2014 BOOKS, CULTURE

• The Face of a Madonna by Thomas Armstrong (1964)

  

  A final Thomas Armstrong review. I feel these reviews fall under the ‘we read these books so you don’t have to’ category! Review by Thecla W: I found this... Read more

  Posted on 18 December 2014 BOOKS, CULTURE

• Dover Harbour by Thomas Armstrong (1942)

  

  Review by Val H: Dover Harbour (1942), by the forgotten Yorkshire writer Thomas Armstrong, is superficially an old-fashioned ‘ripping yarn’ about England in... Read more

  Posted on 12 December 2014 BOOKS, CULTURE

• Thomas Armstrong (1899-1978)

  

  I wonder if anyone remembers Thomas Armstrong now? He wrote a number of best-sellers, none of which are in print now. The members of my reading group would say... Read more

  Posted on 11 December 2014 BOOKS, CULTURE

• Ann Veronica by H. G. Wells (1909)

  

  Review by Sylvia D: I’d been meaning to read Ann Veronica for some time but have to admit that I found it a little disappointing given it has been cited as a... Read more

  Posted on 08 December 2014 BOOKS, CULTURE

• The Island of Dr. Moreau by H. G. Wells (1896)

  

  H. G. Wells need no introduction, so perhaps shouldn’t be in our collection of fiction from 1900-1950 that needs to be preserved, but his popularity is evidence... Read more

  Posted on 03 December 2014 BOOKS, CULTURE

• National Provincial by Lettice Cooper (1938)

  

  Review by George Simmers This is a very good example of the middlebrow political novel. Lettice Cooper was a committed socialist, and in part is preaching the... Read more

  Posted on 17 November 2014 BOOKS, CULTURE

• The New House by Lettice Cooper (1936)

  Review by Sylvia D: Very little seems to happen in The New House (1936).  Over one long day a widowed mother and her 30-something daughter move from a large... Read more

  Posted on 13 November 2014 BOOKS, CULTURE

• Lettice Cooper (1897-1994)

  Our next batch of reviews are of the Yorkshire novelist, Lettice Cooper (1897-1994). Splendid name. (So many unusual names are revived nowadays, but I have yet... Read more

  Posted on 13 November 2014 BOOKS, CULTURE