Litlove

LATEST ARTICLES ( 399 )

• Friday in Photos

  

  It’s been a busy and tiring week, not to mention a very wordy one, so here are a few photos for want of anything more substantial. It’s Mr Litlove’s birthday... Read more

  Posted on 21 February 2014 BOOKS, CULTURE

• Apple Tree Yard

  

  After The Luminaries I wanted something quick and easy, if you know what I mean, as a mental palate cleanser. In fact Apple Tree Yard fit the bill extremely... Read more

  Posted on 17 February 2014 BOOKS, CULTURE

• The Luminaries

  

  You have to imagine a big chest in the corner of the attic, containing the inscription: Plot Fireworks: Handle With Care! And then you picture Eleanor Catton,... Read more

  Posted on 13 February 2014 BOOKS, CULTURE

• How Not To Learn The Hard Way

  

  I read Laura Miller’s brilliant continuation of Eleanor Catton’s article on literature and perceived elitism (after another twitter storm over the use of the... Read more

  Posted on 10 February 2014 BOOKS, CULTURE

• Thursday Reading Notes

  

  It has to be notes at the end of this week rather than a review because I’m reading Eleanor Catton’s magnificent epic, The Luminaries, and I’m afraid at this... Read more

  Posted on 06 February 2014 BOOKS, CULTURE

• The Tai Chi Class

  ‘Now remember,’ said Mr Litlove, as he was leaving for work on Thursday morning, ‘the first time you go, you always meet the weirdos. So don’t judge this one,... Read more

  Posted on 02 February 2014 BOOKS, CULTURE

• The Riddle of the Labyrinth

  

  Much as I love words and enjoy arranging them in pretty patterns, I am completely hopeless when it comes to crossword puzzles and anagrams. I just don’t have th... Read more

  Posted on 30 January 2014 BOOKS, CULTURE

• Critical Theory; A Life

  Early in October 1988, I rocked up to the inaugural lecture of the modern critical theory paper, a module I’d signed up for because it sounded new and... Read more

  Posted on 28 January 2014 BOOKS, CULTURE

• Jamaica Inn

  

  was the novel Daphne du Maurier wrote before she produced her masterpiece, Rebecca. She had been married a few years and was trying to adapt herself to life as... Read more

  Posted on 24 January 2014 BOOKS, CULTURE

• A Chance Encounter

  Just the other day I was stopped at traffic lights when I noticed a man with a bike at the side of the road, adjusting the chin strap of a very silly hat – the... Read more

  Posted on 21 January 2014 BOOKS, CULTURE

• Sisterland

  

  In 1811, in the Louisiana Territory that would eventually become Missouri, a terrible earthquake hit, the earth ‘undulating like the ocean’. Read more

  Posted on 17 January 2014 BOOKS, CULTURE

• The Secret Life of Gardens

  ‘I wonder what temperature grass grows at?’ Mr Litlove said the other day. ‘I must check on the internet.’I am quite used to my husband starting a conversation... Read more

  Posted on 14 January 2014 BOOKS, CULTURE

• Murakami: Imagination Overload

  

  Reading your first Haruki Murakami novel is a bit like trying lobster for the first time. It’s got quite a culinary reputation: you know it’s a sophisticated... Read more

  Posted on 10 January 2014 BOOKS, CULTURE

• Catching Up With Reviews

  

  The Blind Contessa’s New MachineItaly, the nineteenth century, and the young contessa, Carolina Fantoni, is facing triumph and disaster: imminent marriage to th... Read more

  Posted on 07 January 2014 BOOKS, CULTURE

• The Landscape of Colette

  

  I have been a very bad blogger of reviews lately, choosing far too often to witter on about life (because it is shamefully easy to do) rather than make the smal... Read more

  Posted on 05 January 2014 BOOKS, CULTURE

• It’s A New Year, Again

  Happy New Year, dear blogging friends!  I didn’t intend to take quite such a long blogging break, but just as Christmas was feeling properly passed, I fell ill... Read more

  Posted on 02 January 2014 BOOKS, CULTURE

• Season’s Greetings!

  

  I wanted to leave something festive up here for the next few days and thought I’d find something by the wonderful Sulamith Wulfing, the German artist and... Read more

  Posted on 23 December 2013 BOOKS, CULTURE

• In Which Litlove Tries To Party

  I did have a book review scheduled for today, but as I was eating a packet of crisps this morning and realising that the sound of crunching was actually... Read more

  Posted on 20 December 2013 BOOKS, CULTURE

• The Trip To Echo Spring; Why Writers Drink

  

  This book is a beguiling mix of biography, travelogue and memoir, that focuses on the life and work of six of America’s finest twentieth century male writers:... Read more

  Posted on 18 December 2013 BOOKS, CULTURE

• Best Books of 2013

  This may not have been a fabulous year for me personally, but it was a great reading year. I had very few reading slumps and enjoyed a bumper number of good... Read more

  Posted on 13 December 2013 BOOKS, CULTURE