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I went back to a bookshop!
Since the pandemic hit the UK, I have only been in one bookshop – a quick look around Barter Books in Alnwick, as I was there for a wedding and couldn’t miss the opportunity. Other than that, I didn’t...
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The Privet Hedge by J.E. Buckrose
A few weeks ago, I decided to do a mystery book haul – picking four books I knew absolutely nothing about, from mid-century female authors I’d never heard of, to see if I could find some hidden gems....
View ArticleShould offensive books be republished?
When I reviewed Miss Linsey and Pa by Stella Gibbons earlier in the year, I said that it was one of my favourite reads of 2021 so far – but that I couldn’t recommend it to the British Library for...
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Not After Midnight and Other Stories by Daphne du Maurier – #DDMReadingWeek
I’ve read quite a few of Daphne du Maurier’s novels, but I don’t think I’d previously read any of her short stories – some of which are, of course, very famous from the film adaptations that were made...
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StuckinaBook’s Weekend Miscellany
It’s been a while since I did one of these miscellanies, I think. In the UK, pandemic restrictions start to lift in a couple of days, so it’s quite an exciting feeling – on the edge of being able to go...
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The Butterfly Lampshade by Aimee Bender
My dear friend Lorna got me The Butterfly Lampshade (2020) for my birthday last year, after the bookseller in Kramer Books, Washington DC, told her it was similar to our beloved Marilynne Robinson....
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British Library Women Writers #8: Tension by E.M. Delafield
If you click on the tag above, you’ll be able to see my posts about all the British Library Women Writers books as they come out – or, more often, some time after they come out. But Tension by E.M....
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April Lady by Georgette Heyer
Whenever Karen and I run a ‘club’ year, somebody reads a Georgette Heyer novel. I don’t know how many she wrote, but my guess would be thousands. And every time I say ‘How on earth have I not yet read...
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A book haul! After all this time!
I haven’t done a proper trip to a secondhand bookshop for such a long time. I did pop into Barter Books in Alnwick last August, but my trip to Regents in Wantage this morning really felt like a step...
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British Library Women Writers Blog Tour #FarMoreThanFiction
What fun it has been to watch the blog tour for the new British Library Women Writers! There have been wonderful reviews on blogs, YouTube, and Instagram – I recommend visiting the people on the list...
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Tea or Books? #96: Should Offensive Books Be Republished? and two Barbara Pyms
In this episode, we ask whether or not offensive books should be republished – you might remember the same conversation happening here on StuckinaBook a while ago, and it was interesting to visit it...
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I is for Isherwood
This is part of an ongoing series where I write about a different author for each letter of the alphabet. You can see them all here. ‘I’ was always going to be a tricky letter of the alphabet, wasn’t...
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Ghosted by Jenn Ashworth
Novels about missing people seem to be a genre in themselves. So many crime novels that I read about (and never read) are about missing children or missing women – massive turn-offs for me, partly...
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StuckinaBook’s Weekend Miscellany
It’s summer! Unless you’re in the southern hemisphere, of course. But England is finally getting some sunshine and heat – though it has been raining all day today, but plus ça change. Or pleuvait ça...
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The Boarding House by Piotr Paziński
In March, I posted my first of four reviews of books that have won the European Prize for Literature (EUPL) – the amazing Things That Fall From the Sky by Selja Ahava, which it one of the best books...
View ArticleBookTube Spin 3: My List
You might be familiar with Rick’s BookTube Spin – I’ve joined in the previous two rounds, reading The Opposite House by Helen Oyeyemi and The Adventures of Elizabeth in Ruegen by Elizabeth von Arnim in...
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I Ordered A Table For Six by Noel Streatfeild
I bought I Ordered a Table for Six (1942) by Noel Streatfeild in a lovely secondhand bookshop in Ironbridge, just a few weeks before the pandemic hit the UK. It feels like another lifetime. It’s...
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A Spirit Rises by Sylvia Townsend Warner #SylviaTownsendWarnerReadingWeek
Helen at A Gallimaufry is hosting another Sylvia Townsend Warner Reading Week, and I think I’ve managed to join in every year – my bookshelves are nothing if not replete with unread STWs. I have...
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The Adventures of Elizabeth in Rügen by Elizabeth von Arnim
The Adventures of Elizabeth in Rügen (1904) by Elizabeth von Arnim was the result of my BookTube Spin #2, and a book I bought back in 2012. It’s the second sequel to Elizabeth and Her German Garden –...
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J is for Jansson
This is part of an ongoing series where I write about a different author for each letter of the alphabet. You can see them all here. It was really difficult to decide whether to use Tove Jansson or...
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