Category: Uncategorized
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Am I Becoming a Janeite?
I’ve always appreciated Jane Austen novels, of course, but I’ve never considered myself a Janeite. I’ve only read Pride and Prejudice one time – when I was 17. I remember thinking it was okay (however, I did stay up until 4 in the morning to finish it). At that time in my life I was…
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Cover Collection: Emma
I started reading Emma on Thursday night out of sheer desperation. I’m suffering from the reading blahs right now and can’t find anything to hold my interest or anything that doesn’t sound like something else (why does so much historical fiction have to employ the dual narrative these days?) so I thought I’d try a…
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The Child Garden by Catriona McPherson
I read about this Scotland-based mystery in a recent issue of Library Journal who gave it a starred review. I always look out for books that are well-reviewed yet don’t have the ‘buzz’ that a lot of other books have – the ones that not everyone is talking about. This one is definitely in that…
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Weekend Cooking: Chocolate Chip Pecan Oatmeal Cookies
Last weekend it finally dipped below 80 on Saturday evening so I gleefully switched on the oven and mixed up some cookie batter. I haven’t baked for months and months because it was just too hot (and humid for most of that time too) and having the oven on for an extended period of time…
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One Book, Two Book, Three Book Meme
I don’t have much to blog about lately as I am in a frustrating reading slump and can’t seem to stick with any book for longer than 25 pages. There are signs that this slump is on its way out the door, but in the meantime I remembered this meme that Simon at Stuck in…
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Crooked Heart by Lissa Evans
In Crooked Heart we’re placed right in the middle of WWII-era London during the Blitz. Ten-year-old Noel is an orphan who’s been evacuated to the home of Vee Sedgwick, a woman who just can’t seem to get it together. She can’t hold down a job, makes enemies of her neighbors, and none of her money-making schemes…
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Book Club: Liar, Temptress, Soldier, Spy by Karen Abbott
Last week my book club gathered to discuss Liar, Temptress, Soldier, Spy, a nonfiction title about four women who participated in espionage activities during the Civil War. This was the fourth nonfiction book that we’ve read this year (the others are The Knife Man, When Paris Went Dark and The Plantagenets) and it wasn’t a…
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Anderby Wold by Winifred Holtby
I’m counting this as my first book read for the All Virago/All August event even though I finished it on the last day of July. It is the reason, however, that I visited the Librarything Virago group (to see if anyone else had recently read it) and found out about AV/AA so I believe it’s…
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All Virago/All August
This month the LibraryThing Virago group is hosting the All Virago/All August event. The goal is to read as many Viragos (or Persephones -they’re included) during the month as you can or as you want. It’s a great opportunity to read those classics that you’ve been putting off or that have lingered on your…
A Certain Fondness 