Erica

LATEST ARTICLES ( 397 )

• The Pastor’s Wife by Elizabeth Von Arnim (1914)

  

  Review by Sylvia D: The Pastor’s Wife is a joy to read. It is witty, thought-provoking, full of wonderful descriptive passages and a fine study of human... Read more

  Posted on 20 June 2014 BOOKS, CULTURE

• Elizabeth and Her German Garden (1898)

  

  Next we have a run of Elizabeth von Arnim reviews. I’ve now read Elizabeth von Arnim with both my reading groups, because I simply love hearing people’s... Read more

  Posted on 17 June 2014 BOOKS, CULTURE

• The Woman in the Back Seat by Marguerite Steen (1959)

  

  Review by George Simmers The Woman in the Back Seat is the story of a second marriage. It begins in 1946, and the central character, Ellen, is the widow of an... Read more

  Posted on 13 June 2014 BOOKS, CULTURE

• Young Men in Love by Michael Arlen (1927)

  

  Review by Margaret B: Young Men in Love by Michael Arlen is just as much about old men in lust as young men in love. Interlaced throughout this book are the... Read more

  Posted on 09 June 2014 BOOKS, CULTURE

• May Fair by Michael Arlen (1925)

  

  Next up is Michael Arlen (real name was Dikran Kouyoumdjian), an Armenian who grew up in Britain. Arlen found fame in the 1920s with his novel The Green Hat... Read more

  Posted on 06 June 2014 BOOKS, CULTURE

• Finch’s Fortune by Mazo De La Roche (1931)

  

  Review by Mary P: The Jalna series brought Mazo de la Roche fame and fortune with the publication of Jalna in 1927. Eleven million copies were sold, and 92... Read more

  Posted on 03 June 2014 BOOKS, CULTURE

• Mary Wakefield by Mazo De La Roche (1949)

  

  Review by Sylvia D: Mary Wakefield (1949) couldn’t fail to appeal to moony 1950s and 60s teenagers dreaming of a handsome young man who will sweep them off thei... Read more

  Posted on 02 June 2014 BOOKS, CULTURE

• The Building of Jalna by Mazo De La Roche (1944)

  

  Next is a series of reviews of the Jalna novels by Canadian Mazo de la Roche. There are 16 novels in the Jalna series, published from 1927 to 1960, which... Read more

  Posted on 29 May 2014 BOOKS, CULTURE

• Patricia Brent, Spinster by Herbery Jenkins (1918)

  

  There have been a few blog reviews of this novel recently. See Stuck-in-a-Book Review by Thecla W: Patricia Brent is 24, secretary to an MP, Arthur Bonsor, and... Read more

  Posted on 19 May 2014 BOOKS, CULTURE

• Bindle by Herbert Jenkins (1916) and Adventures of Bindle (1919)

  We’re now on to some novels that have not been reprinted in recent times (as far as I know!) and I think have been pretty much forgotten. Read more

  Posted on 14 May 2014 BOOKS, CULTURE

• A Heritage and Its History by Ivy Compton-Burnett (1959)

  

  Review by Sylvia D: I have read several of Elizabeth Taylor’s novels with a growing respect for her ability as a writer, so I chose an Ivy Compton-Burnett... Read more

  Posted on 12 May 2014 BOOKS, CULTURE

• Palladian by Elizabeth Taylor (1946)

  

  Here’s the rather lovely cover of the first edition of Palladian (very kindly given to me by Nicolas Hawkes). It was ‘produced in conformity with the... Read more

  Posted on 02 May 2014 BOOKS, CULTURE

• Manservant and Maidservant by Ivy Compton-Burnett (1947)

  

  Review by Mary P: This novel paints a picture of an Edwardian upper-class household where the servants are given as much prominence as those they work for, and... Read more

  Posted on 30 April 2014 BOOKS, CULTURE

• A House and Its Head by Ivy Compton-Burnett (1935)

  Review by George Simmers (see his Great War Fiction blog here) A House and its Head is the story of a family ruled by the whim of Duncan, the despotic patriarch... Read more

  Posted on 29 April 2014 BOOKS, CULTURE

• Elizabeth Taylor and Ivy Compton-Burnett

  We had a delightful reading group the other day reading Elizabeth Taylor and Ivy Compton-Burnett. I have long thought that Taylor is one of the best novelists o... Read more

  Posted on 29 April 2014 BOOKS, CULTURE

• The Major’s Candlesticks by George A. Birmingham (1929)

  

  Review by Kath R: George A. Birmingham is the pseudonym of James Owen Hannay. Major Kent’s Irish country house is burned down during the Irish War of... Read more

  Posted on 23 April 2014 BOOKS, CULTURE

• The Castle on the Hill by Elizabeth Goudge (1942)

  

  Review by Thecla W: It is early in the War. Miss Brown, aged around 40, has had her boarding house requisitioned by the Army and is in London, staying with a... Read more

  Posted on 09 April 2014 BOOKS, CULTURE

• The Rosemary Tree by Elizabeth Goudge (1956)

  

  Elizabeth Goudge’s children’s novels have many admirers, but our reading group found her adult novels pretty heavy-going. Jane wrote of The White Witch: ‘Oh... Read more

  Posted on 08 April 2014 BOOKS, CULTURE

• White Fang by Jack London (1907)

  

  Review by Helen N This was quite a hard read for me. If it is not inappropriate to talk about gender-specific books, this is very much a man’s book. Read more

  Posted on 07 April 2014 BOOKS, CULTURE

• A Son of the Sun by Jack London (1912)

  

  Review by Sylvia D A Son of the Sun is a collection of short stories, all of which originally ran in the Saturday Evening Post in 1911 and all of which feature... Read more

  Posted on 04 April 2014 BOOKS, CULTURE