Erica

LATEST ARTICLES ( 422 )

• The Razor’s Edge (1944) by Somerset Maugham

  

  Book Review by George S: The Razor’s Edge was written during the Second World War, but its story begins at the end of the First one. In 1919 Larry Darrell is... Read more

  Posted on 20 November 2022 BOOKS, CULTURE

• Cherry Ames Cruise Nurse (1948) by Julie Tatham

  

  By Val Hewson and Chris Hopkins Cherry Ames, for anyone unfamiliar with her – and I would be interested to hear who does remember her and the career novels... Read more

  Posted on 01 November 2022 BOOKS, CULTURE

• Now, Voyager (1941), by Olive Higgins Prouty

  

  The classic movie Now, Voyager (1942), starring Bette Davis, is so familiar that I can pretty near play it in my head. Claude Rains as Dr Jaquith tapping his... Read more

  Posted on 31 October 2022 BOOKS, CULTURE

• The Shuttle (1907) by Frances Hodgson Burnett

  

  Book review by George Simmers: When my daughter was young I used to read to her regularly, and when she was ten or eleven we both greatly enjoyed the... Read more

  Posted on 27 October 2022 BOOKS, CULTURE

• The Heat of the Day (1948) by Elizabeth Bowen

  

  Book Review by George Simmers: The Heat of the Day is a novel set in 1942. The central character is Stella, whose lover, Robert had been wounded at Dunkirk. He... Read more

  Posted on 07 October 2022 BOOKS, CULTURE

• Beau Brocade (1907) by Baroness Orczy

  

  Book review by George Simmers. This month we are looking at books and writers connected with Derbyshire and Yorkshire, and this novel, despite being written by... Read more

  Posted on 17 August 2022 BOOKS, CULTURE

• What Did It Mean? (1954) by Angela Thirkell

  Book review by Hilary Temple. The twenty-third title in the Barsetshire series, this novel requires Thirkell to start with some recapitulation. Read more

  Posted on 10 August 2022 BOOKS, CULTURE

• Coronation Summer (1937) by Angela Thirkell

  Book review by Hilary Temple. In this summer of celebrating the 70th anniversary of the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II it is interesting to read a celebration... Read more

  Posted on 10 August 2022 BOOKS, CULTURE

• The Luck of the Bodkins (1935) by P.G. Wodehouse

  Book Review by George Simmers: July was Herbert Jenkins month at the Sheffield Hallam 1900-1950n Reading Group, and so I gave myself a treat by reading a... Read more

  Posted on 04 August 2022 BOOKS, CULTURE

• Giant’s Bread by Mary Westmacott (1930)

  

  Book review by George S: This is the first of the novels that Agatha Christie published under the name of Mary Westmacott. It is an odd book, though an... Read more

  Posted on 21 July 2022 BOOKS, CULTURE

• Absent In the Spring (1944) by Mary Westmacott

  

  Book Review by France Soar: When Agatha Christie, already renowned for her detective fiction, chose to write certain novels under the pen-name Mary Westmacott,... Read more

  Posted on 20 July 2022 BOOKS, CULTURE

• Adventures of Bindle (1919) by Herbert Jenkins

  

  Book review by Hilary Temple I had never come across Herbert Jenkins before I found this book on the shelves of my parents-in-law, who otherwise showed a... Read more

  Posted on 16 July 2022 BOOKS, CULTURE

• The Tenth Anniversary of Reading 1900-1950

  

  Dear Reading 1900-1950 Blog followers, On the 19th July we are celebrating ten years of reading mainly popular fiction from the first half of the twentieth... Read more

  Posted on 13 July 2022 BOOKS, CULTURE

• Steel City Readers: Reading for Pleasure in Sheffield 1925-1955 – a...

  Dear Reading 1900-1950 followers and contributors, This blog has now been running for a decade – since Erica Brown posted the first book review in July 2012. Read more

  Posted on 25 June 2022 BOOKS, CULTURE

• Northbridge Rectory (1941) by Angela Thirkell

  Book review by Hilary Temple At this stage in Angela Thirkell’s Barsetshire saga we are in the second year of WWII. To emphasise this, the ten-bedroomed... Read more

  Posted on 22 June 2022 BOOKS, CULTURE

• Tales of Pirates and Blue Water (1922) by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

  

  Book Review by George S: This 1922 volume contains stories written by Doyle over a long period, and the most striking are the four about the evil pirate Sharkey... Read more

  Posted on 20 May 2022 BOOKS, CULTURE

• We Are Not Alone (1937) by James Hilton

  

  Book review by George S: James Hilton wrote this novel after he had moved to Hollywood, and it reads rather like a movie treatment. We begin with opening shots... Read more

  Posted on 19 April 2022 BOOKS, CULTURE

• Lolly Willowes (1926) by Sylvia Townsend Warner

  

  Book review by Sue R: Sylvia Townsend Warner was a poet, short story writer, novelist and musicologist. She wrote non- fiction works including a biography of... Read more

  Posted on 03 April 2022 BOOKS, CULTURE

• Le Bal (1930) and Snow in Autumn (1931), by Irène Némirovsky

  

  Irène Némirovsky (1903-1942) was on my ‘to read’ list for a long time before our reading group’s decision to read European novels made me take down one of her... Read more

  Posted on 29 March 2022 BOOKS, CULTURE

• The Middle of the Road (1922) by Philip Gibbs

  

  Book Review by George S: Philip Gibbs was a so-so novelist, but a very good reporter. The saving grace of this 1922 novel is that in the second half, the... Read more

  Posted on 18 March 2022 BOOKS, CULTURE