Some classic Soviet-era stories for the #1937Club #platonov

After my wonderful start to the #1937club with some lovely reads, I have to confess that I hit a bit of a wall… I had a great pile of possible reads, a mixture of old favourites and books which had been lurking on the TBR for a while. However, I picked up and put down several titles, and none were really gelling with my reading mood. So I had a bit of a search around online, checking out…

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For the #1937Club, a guest post considers a much-loved classic...

As has become a tradition, Mr. Kaggsy has offered up a review for the #1937Club and this time he takes on a book and author who have been much loved – though I wonder how much they’re read nowadays? The title is “The Citadel” by A.J. Cronin, and I think Mr K. was a little underwhelmed… Archibald Joseph Cronin (born 1986, Dunbartonshire, 1896; died 1981, Montreux) was both a doctor and prolific…

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Travelling round the world with a great French artist for the #1937Club

My second title for the #1937Club is by another favourite author, and I’m ashamed to say that it’s been languishing on the TBR since 2012 – which is verified by the packing slip still inside the book, and I can’t believe I’ve owned it unread for so long!!! The title is “Round the World Again in 80 Days” by Jean Cocteau, translated by Stuart Gilbert, although interestingly the original French…

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Kicking off the #1937Club with not one, but two, classic crime authors!!

It’s become something of a habit for me, during our club reading events, to begin the week with some classic crime. I often choose Agatha Christie; as well as being a huge favourite of mine, she was also very prolific with at least one title for most of the years in the range we cover! Another prolific author from the period was Simenon with his Maigret tales, and so when I was checking out…

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Coming up on on Monday - the #1937Club!!!

Yes, it’s that time of year again – on Monday, Simon and I will be co-hosting one of our six-monthly reading clubs, and this time we’re focusing on the year 1937. It promises to be another bumper year, and I did share some pictures of possible choices at the beginning of the month. However, there were a number of titles I didn’t put on the piles because I’d already read them and didn’t intend a…

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The story of an inspirational bookshop - over @ShinyNewBooks

I have a review up today on Shiny New Books which I wanted to share with you, and it’s a book which touched me deeply. “A Bookshop of One’s Own” by Jane Cholmeley explores the story of the Silver Moon Feminist bookshop which used to live in Charing Cross Road, London; as one of the founders, she’s well placed to tell the story, which starts in the 1980s and ends just into the 21st century. The…

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"...in a tourist town, discretion is everything..." #thekingandthecorpse @Galileobooks

One of the presses I’d hoped to get to during #ReadIndies in February was Galileo Publishers; a recent discovery, they’re a Cambridge-based outfit who specialise in re-issuing Golden Age crime, and they’ve been kind enough to provide several titles for review. All of them sound fascinating, but when I was casting about for my next read, one particular book caught my eye – “The King and Corpse” by…

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Some recent shorter reads #Woolf #Cocteau @renardpress

Just a little post today to round up a couple of recent short reads – in length, that is, although not in impact. Both authors are huge favourites, so here goes! In the Orchard by Virginia Woolf Woolf was a prolific essayist, and I am gradually collecting all of the volumes of her Complete Essays. However, useful as those are, there’s definitely something daunting about the prospect of reading…

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"Need is not quite belief". #annesexton @BacklistedPod

I’ve long been a follower (and patron) of the wonderful Backlisted podcast; it’s the only one I listen to on a regular basis, and so often the books they cover are ones I already love or ones I want to read. However, as there’s only usually a week’s notice of what the next title will be, I rarely manage to read a new book ahead of the broadcast. But when the team mentioned that they would be…

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The clash between tyrants and writers - over @shinynewbooks

I have another review up at Shiny New Books this week, as part of their celebration of award longlists. This time it’s a book by an author I’ve read before – Ismail Kadare. I found his “Twilight of the Eastern Gods” intriguing, if flawed, so I was keen to read his latest work “A Dictator Calls” which has resonances with the earlier book. An Albanian by birth, Kadare spent time studying in Soviet…

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March reading and April plans - including the #1937Club!

As I’ve probably mentioned in the past, March is a particularly busy and difficult month for me at work, and so I do tend to try to tailor my reading to things which don’t stress me too much! However, this year I’ve felt relatively in control; and I have managed to get in some wonderful books, as you can see from this lovely pile! I’m pleased to report that there were once again no duds! Some of…

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"They were lonely and unsatisfied..." #thevisitor #maevebrennan #ReadingIrelandMonth24

For my final review of March, I’m happy to be able to squeeze in one more title for Reading Ireland Month. The book arrived via belated Christmas gifting from my BFF J, and as it’s a slim novella I was able to read it pretty much in one session. Despite its small size, however, it did turn out to memorable and a bit disturbing too. The title is “The Visitor” and it’s by Irish author Maeve…

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A classic essayist - over @ShinyNewBooks #montaigne @PushkinPress

I have a new review up on Shiny New Books today to share with you, and it’s of a collection of essays by the man who’s considered one of the foremost practitioners of the form – Michel de Montaigne. I’ve read a number of books by and about the great author and he was a fascinating character. His essays are wonderful reading, ranging far and wide over subjects and drawing in inspiration from the…

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"..the cemetery blossomed every night with wills-o'-the-wisp..." #calvinobookclub #theclovenviscount

2023 was a year where I spent many happy hours reacquainting myself with the works of Italo Calvino, many of which I hadn’t read in decades. It was of course the centenary of his birth, and Philip of the A Plunge into Calvino podcast hosted a Calvino Bookclub on Twitter/X where we read along with a work a month. It was great fun, so I was very pleased when he announced he would be rebooting this,…

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"I'm a master of balance, I am." #elevenpraguecorpses @Dalkey_Archive

One of my aims this year is to try to read as many books as I can from the teetering TBR, and I do feel I’m doing reasonably well so far. Today’s book is one I picked up in May 2019 and I have no idea why I was drawn to it; but I was casting around for a suitable train book to read on my recent trip to the capital, and I thought it might be ideal – which it was! The title is “Eleven Prague…

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"These irresistible fragments..." #clivejames #reliableessays

As is probably clear from my reading matter, I do love a good essay; and I was recently fortunate enough to receive a review copy of a collection of Montaigne’s essays, which I’ll be covering for Shiny New Books. However, I don’t always want to read straight through a collection like this, and so had a rummage on the TBR to see what I could polyread alongside it. My eye was caught by a book which…

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A Russian Snapshot

Twilight of the Eastern Gods by Ismail Kadare I guess most readers will have had that thing where a book or an author keeps floating into your line of vision, until you just think that you better get on and read it so it stops bothering you! I had that last year with this book, which turned up regularly on my Big River recommendations, as well as on a number of blogs I was following. So when I…

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