0 Stuck-in-a-Book's Weekend Miscellany

Hope you're having a good weekend!  I'll be off on one of my trips to villages with odd names - this time it's the turn of Ready Token.  Brilliant, no?  I'll leave you with a book, a link (or two), and a blog post.

1.) The links - I started writing a post last November on book covers (and by 'started writing', I mean I copied out two links and wrote 'COVERS' as the post title) but I've realised that it's not going to come to fruition for a while. So instead I'll just give you the links.  The first is to an excellent Caustic Cover Critic  interview with designer Alison Forner, which includes many examples of her beautiful work - one of which is above.  The second is a sort of review of the best covers of 2011 (which sadly too few illustrations), from the Guardian.  JUST what you wanted in the middle of March, no?

2.) The book - fans of the Mapp and Lucia series by E.F. Benson will be pleased to know that another sequel has been written by Guy Fraser-Sampson (also known as Pursewarden).  His Major Benjy really caught the spirit of the original series (my thoughts here) and, if we can't have Benson writing new books, then Guy Fraser-Sampson is second best.  And although these things shouldn't matter, I'm glad that he's been given a lovely cover this time around - for Lucia on Holiday.  If you're quick, you might be able to hear Guy talk about it about on Radio 4's Open Book.  Lucia on Holiday is published on 29th March.

3.) The blog link -  is Trevor's fantastic review of Tove Jansson's The Summer Book, on his site The Mookse and the Gripes.  If you've yet to be convinced to try it out, I think he might just do the trick.

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0 Stuck-in-a-Book's Weekend Miscellany

Happy weekend, folks!  Mine is looking chirpier than last week, as I seem to be back on my feet.  A bit of coughing here, a bit of sneezing there, but it no longer feels like my brain has gone on holiday without leaving a forwarding address.  (This isn't what I wanted when I hoped my blog would go viral, ba-duhm-crash.)  For the first time in a while, I'm actually going to be disciplined and stick to a book, a link, and a blog post.

Oh, but first a reminder that it's March!  And thus it is time to read A View of the Harbour, if you're participating in Elizabeth Taylor Centenary Celebrations.  I'll be hosting a discussion later in the month, and will hopefully start reading it myself this weekend (if I don't get distracted by reading In Cold Blood for book group.  I know Polly and Simon love it, but I'm a bit trepidatious...)

1.) The link - comes via my housemate Debs' friend Jo.  It's a response in the Guardian to that list of beautiful bookshops which did the rounds a while ago (did I post them here?  I can't remember - there were some stunning places.)  Basically it's about the most unattractive and haphazard bookshops containing the best 'finds' - and does raise the question: why are so many secondhand bookshop owners grumpy and unpleasant?  Is it just me who has found this?  Is it because I buy cheap books, and they're hoping I've got my eyes on £500 first editions?  (There are notable exceptions, of course - the staff in Slightly Foxed bookshop, for instance, are always lovely.)  Enough waffle from me - the article is here.

2.) The book - Urania, in the Virago Modern Classics LibraryThing group, mentioned a book in passing which really intrigued me: The Faster I Walk, The Smaller I Am by Kjersti Skomsvold.   All I know about this book is that it's a Norwegian novella - but those are two definite buzz words for me, and I was immediately sold.  Onto the Amazon wishlist it went, for a post-Lent purchase... but I'd love to know if you've come across it already, and what you think?

3.) The blog post - is Tom's very amusing review of The Very Hungry Caterpillar, which I saw on Simon S's Twitter feed (yes, Twitter - I'm there occasionally!)  Turns out Tom and I have a mutual friend called Carly from Real Life.  She also blogs, or blogged, here.  And now the indefinite chain of blog-links-to-blog-links-to-blog is in full force...

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0 Stuck-in-a-Book's Weekend Miscellany

I was quite miscellaneous (as it were) yesterday, so this feels a bit like an elongated weekend.... but there is always room for a book, a link, and a blog post!

1.) The book - is Edgar Allen Poe's Murder at the Rue Morgue and other stories, sent to me by Penguin.  It's part of their new Penguin English Library series, each of which comes with a rather funky patterned cover.  (Yes, folks, that's right - I'm bringing back the word 'funky'.)  They're not reinventing the wheel with their choices - there certainly aren't any undiscovered voices being, er, discovered - but it's always fun to have classic books in attractive formats.  Trollope's The Warden has also arrived, and will hopefully be the incentive I need to read some Trollope (although I feel oddly guilty about reading non-twentieth century titles this year...)

2.) The blog post - is Eva's intriguing question: reading pilgrim or reading monk?  I'll let her explain the rest...

3.) The link - is a trailer (of sorts) to a film I'll be seeing on Sunday: Grand Hotel.  It's based on the book by Vicki Baum, which I have had in my possession but never read, and won the Oscar for Best Film back in 1932.  Oxford's wonderful Ultimate Picture Palace often show classic films, and this is the final in their 'season' on films set in hotels.  Great idea, no?



If you happen to be in Oxford at 3.45 on Sunday... do come along!

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0 Stuck-in-a-Book's Weekend Miscellany

Hope y'all are having a great weekend, folks!  (I've been thinking about my autumnal trip to America, if that's any excuse for that sentence - although 'autumnal' has rather scuppered that line of thought.)

It's getting rather too hot again, so I shall collapse in a heap - before I do so, here's a book, a blog post, and a link, as per.

1.) The book - Janet Todd wrote a fantastic book called Death and the Maidens a few years ago, and the Shelleys and Wollstonecrafts (read my review here) - I've heard that she's now got a novel out reimagining Jane Austen's Lady Susan. It's only available as an ebook, so I can't read it (and I haven't even read Lady Susan yet, as I want to save something by Austen) - but perhaps you can.  Find out more here.

2.) The blog post - Hurrah and hurray for Vintage Books reprinting Stella Gibbons!  When I think I know about her output, still more appear - I'm currently reading Here Be Dragons, but for today, go and read Jane/Fleur Fisher's fantastic and enticing review of The Rich House.

3.) The link - Nanny Net sent me a link to their 10 Nanny Themed Summer Reading Books... as target audiences go, this is up there with the person who emailed me recently saying they'd like to feature me on their TV show as 'a book lover and mother of two', but perhaps some of you will be intrigued!

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0 Stuck-in-a-Book's Weekend Miscellany

There are three people I routinely refer to as my best friend (playing fast and loose with my superlatives) - one is my lovely brother Colin, one is my dear friend Washington Wife, and the third is wonderful Mel.  (Since her blog isn't updated, I can link instead to a review she wrote for me, that was for a long time the most read page on my blog.)  They're all enormously brilliant people, and I am very blessed to know them - and only one of them is biologically predetermined to like me.

I bring this up only because today is Mel's wedding day, and I'm off to usher (ush?), give a reading, and probably cry.  I'll leave you with a whole range of links, rather than the usual book, blog post, and link (because there are so many this week), but first of all - I've done the prize draw for Stephen Leacock's Literary Lapses and the winner is Pam from Travellin' Penguin!  Email me your address, and I'll get it in the post.  I so enjoyed reading everyone's favourite things about Canada, and it's made me even more determined to visit one day.  And how serendipitous that I chose Canada Day to hold the draw!  Right - some links:

1.) You'll love this list of 'book titles with one letter missing', and accompanying illustrations.

2.) I wrote again for OxfordWords - this time, 5 Words That Are Older Than You Think.  Go and be surprised!

3.) So did Hayley!  She's written all about the language of whisky.

4.) AND Washington Wife, aforementioned!  A really fantastic article on 'journalese'.

5.) Margaret sent me this fascinating article about the letters received after Shirley Jackson's 'The Lottery' was first published in the New Yorker.  Warning: spoilers, so make sure you read the short story (which you can do here) first.

Have a great weekend, all!

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0 Stuck-in-a-Book's Weekend Miscellany

It's been a little while since I did one of these... and this one's going to be brief, because the painkillers I'm on for endless headaches have made me very sleepy!  (They're not especially heavy-duty painkillers, but... well, maybe I have a predisposition to sleepiness. It's been noted before.)

1.) The book - is The Matriarch by G.B. Stern, which Daunt Books sent me a day or two ago - I've been wanting to read some of her fiction for ages, and this is a great opportunity in a lovely edition.

2.) The link - oh, just Buzzfeed. I spend my life there now.

3.) The blog post - Washington Wife has put up another two hilarious posts - read 'em here and here.

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0 Stuck-in-a-Book's Weekend Miscellany

And the weekend comes at the end of the week which, in Britain, finally brought warm weather!  We seem to have skipped spring altogether, and moved straight to summer - which is a shame for me, because spring is easily my favourite season.  Ho-hum.

Today I'll be going to a 1970s-themed murder mystery party... which I'm also writing.  And that tense is used intentionally, since I still haven't finished writing it... eek!  Best get a move on; just time to tell you about a blog post, a book, and a link.

1.) The book - isn't new, but is a mini-project between me and Karen / Kaggsy's Bookish Ramblings, which we're inviting everyone to join in with.  I love doing little readalongs with other bloggers, so if I see that they've recently bought a book I've been intending to read, I quite often pop a comment in, seeing if they'd like to read at the same time.  Karen and I talked about reading Nina Bawden together (an author I've yet to read, although I have a few of her books) and the only one we both owned was A Woman of My Age.  So we'll be both be reading it, and probably posting about it sometime towards the end of the month.  Do join in!

2.) The link - I have got so obsessed BuzzFeed of late... yes, the cute animals, but also myriad other addictive lists.  I do love a list.  Most recently, I have been amazed by these optical illusions (particularly numbers 11 and 14).

3.) The blog post - read about the postal book group I'm in, and the fantastic book Danielle sent around this time, in her blog post here.

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0 Stuck-in-a-Book's Weekend Miscellany

Happy weekend, everyone! I'm feeling in a good mood as I write this on Friday night, because I went back to the first chapter of my DPhil thesis for the first time in 3 years, and I still felt inspired to see how I could edit and re-frame it!  It's been so long since I had time to work on my DPhil properly that I'd forgotten the thrill when planning goes right.  The only academic thing to compare is the thrill when archives turn up something wonderful.  There are plenty of downsides to spending four years earning very little money and working alongside very few people, but it has its upsides too.

So that's put me in a cheery frame of mind for sharing a book, a link, and a blog post!

1.) The book - is one I was offered by the author.  I know I won't have time to read it, so I haven't accepted the review copy, but I still think it sounds very intriguing. It's A Bright Moon For Fools by Jasper Gibson, and the cover art is enough to catch my attention...

I like the quick synopsis Jasper put in an email to me: "Though it is (I hope) funny in parts, it's really about an ageing man, unable to get over the loss of his wife, crashing around rural Venezuela and getting into serious trouble."

2.) The blog post - was a very easy choice this week, as it's about a book I adored, but never wrote about: Economy Must Be Our Watchword by Joyce Dennys.  I didn't write about it, because it was impossible to find and I didn't want to fill people with hopeless desire to read this gem!  But I mentioned it when I took part in Lost in the Stacks over at A Work in Progress, and Danielle, marvellously, managed to find a copy through her library - and wrote a brilliant review here.  Go and check it out; it also includes lots of Dennys's brilliant illustrations.

3.) The link - this video had my office in fits of laughter this week:

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0 Stuck-in-a-Book's Weekend Miscellany

Happy weekend, everyone.  It's finally starting to look a bit sunnier and - dare I say it - a touch less freezing here, so I'll be spending my Saturday... at work.  Oh well, it'll be nice to say hello to Bodleian people, and then I'm off to spend Saturday evening at my friend's house, watching The Voice.  Very classy, me.  You can treat yourself better, by reading a weekend miscellany.

1.) The blog post - check out Hayley's response to my recent On Not Knowing Art post, entitled On Knowing Art.

2.) The book - came courtesy of lovely Folio books, and is a beautiful copy of All Quiet on the Western Front by Erich Maria Remarque - which I've been intending to read for ages.  Has anyone read it? (Follow that link to see the details of the Folio edition I was kindly sent.)

3.) The link - is silly. It just is silly. But I love it. Click here to ask one of nature's great questions.

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0 Stuck-in-a-Book's Weekend Miscellany

Hopefully I'm going to see some crocodiles this weekend... I'll keep you posted, either on here or, more likely, on Twitter - where I'm @stuck_inabook, donchaknow.  I'm afraid I'm just as likely to talk about Neighbours or cats as I am books, but...

1.) The books - you know me, I love reprints - so it's always exciting to unwrap an unsolicited publisher package and discover that it's got reprints.  Even better, they're by an author I like, and they're books I don't own - soon I'll be trying The Boat and A Perfect Woman by L.P. Hartley (best known for the very good The Go-Between), courtesy of John Murray.  Click on the images for more info.

2.) The links - time for an update about OxfordWords blog posts, sneakily put in the 'links' section!  I've been calling in favours from the blogosphere, and a couple of posts appeared over the past weeks from names you'll recognise... here are some of my favourite recent articles:

Harriet wrote about Elizabeth Barrett Browning
Rachel wrote about Vita Sackville-West
Andrew Motion wrote about poetry and memory
My lovely boss Malie wrote about My Fair Lady
I wrote about pronunciations of 'scone'.
Our 'baby names generator' proved very popular!

3.) The blog post - do check out Karyn's posts about her travels - especially if piles of Penguins get you all tingly.

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0 Stuck-in-a-Book's Weekend Miscellany

Ok, I lied last week.  I said I'd sneak my OxfordWords highlights in after the book, link, and blog post - but this week I can't resist devoting the post to two pieces over there which I think are really fantastic.  And one of them is partly by me, so I'm being a little bit egotistical...

1.) Baby Names Generator - go and find out what your baby should be called!  My colleague Rachel wrote great copy for it, but I mostly love it for the adorable pictures of babies...

2.) Dr. Seuss meet Dr. Murray - my colleague Malie and I wrote a poem about an imaginary meeting between a young Dr. Seuss and Dr. Murray, the famous Editor of the OED.  And a brilliant cartoonist called John Taylor drew Dr. Murray in his Scriptorium, in the style of Dr. Seuss.  It makes me so happy...

Have a great weekend, everyone!  I'll be at the Bodleian tomorrow, but hoping to get some reading done in the evening.  I only finished three books in MarchFebruary, y'all...

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0 Stuck-in-a-Book's Weekend Miscellany

Firstly - if you fancy a mosey around my bookshelves, Danielle has very kindly asked me to take part in her wonderful ongoing series of Lost in the Stacks: Home Edition.  It's a mix of my bookcases in Oxford and Somerset, and some fun questions to answer.

Happy weekend!  My brother will be here, which will make my weekend fun.  There might even be cake.  You'll just have to make do with a weekend miscellany...

1.) The blog post - is another great review of Guard Your Daughters, this time from Ali.  And she loved it!

2.) The book - I'm excited about A.L. Kennedy's On Writing, which Jonathan Cape sent me recently - it's going to be published on 7th March, so consider this early warning.  It's chiefly a collection of articles about writing that Kennedy wrote for the Guardian, but there are also lots of other essays about writing, character, voice, being a writer etc.  Which one of us isn't interested in this sort of thing, regardless of whether or not we intend to write ourselves?

3.) The link - I'm quite passionate about trying to get people (especially Americans) to watch the sitcom Happy Endings.  It's on in the UK at some odd hour in the morning, but it's on ABC in the US.  It looks like it might be cancelled after this third series.  But it's so, so good.  Quickfire wit, the right amount of silliness... just brilliant.  This link gives 36 Reasons Happy Endings Is The Best Show on Television.  I'm not sure how accurate a depiction it is of the show, but... well, have a gander.  And watch the show!  It's on a break (sigh) til Fri March 29, so watch it then, 8pm... and catch up on DVDs of earlier episodes!

4.) OxfordWords - whilst I'm working as the editor of Oxford Dictionaries' OxfordWords blog, I'll also post weekly highlights from it in my Weekend Miscellany.  I thought "hmm, will this get awkward, mixing my job with my personal blog", but then I thought no, you'll want to read some of the fantastic stuff that we publish there.  It's all fantastic, obvs, but my personal highlight this week is the post about words which have newly entered Oxford Dictionaries Online - more here.  And I wrote a couple of pieces this week, too - What the Nobel Laureates did for us, and a (hopefully witty) article about horses in expressions and idioms.  Oh, and I got drawing in Paint again...

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0 Stuck-in-a-Book's Weekend Miscellany

It's been a tiring week, mostly because I came down with a virus last weekend (I'm very glad I scheduled four posts to appear before I was stricken!) so I'm looking forward to collapsing a bit.  AND seeing my dear friend Mel, who is visiting Oxford.  I hope you all have equally fun plans!  And if you don't, solace yourself with a book, a link, and a blog post.

1.) The book - who'd have thought that one of the new books I'm most excited about would be a graphic novel?  I loved the colourful, gentle touch of Brecht Evens' The Wrong Place, so different to the brash superhero-comic-style of many graphic novels (but not all, of course.)  So I asked Jonathan Cape if they'd be kind enough to send me his latest, and they very nicely did - it's called The Making Of and it looks to have the same aesthetic.  I will, of course, tell you more when I've read it.

2.) The link - is to the first post I've written in my new job at OxfordWords!  Actually, the first one I wrote will be appearing on Tuesday - this post, on '5 Words You Didn't Know Were Acronyms', was written yesterday as a quick substitute for something else - but it was great fun to write, and might surprise you.

3.) The blog post - I'm afraid I've been pretty rubbish at commenting on posts this week, from my sickbed, but I've been reading 'em.  Mary/Mrs. Miniver's Daughter has some lovely mural images in her latest post.  She seems to be at an exhibition every other hour, and I must follow her example and try to get to the British Murals and Decorative Painting 1910-1970 exhibition before it closes on 9th March.

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0 Stuck-in-a-Book's Weekend Miscellany

Happy weekend, folks!  As I warned, things have been a bit quieter than usual on SiaB this week.  I'll tell you more about my job next week (thanks for all your lovely congrats) - for now, sit back and enjoy a book, a link, and a blog post.

1.) The blog post - You know how great it is when someone loves an author you love?  Even better is when initially they don't, and then discover later that they do.  Harriet rather hated her first experience with Ivy Compton-Burnett (whom, as you might know, I adore).  Bravely, after some encouragement from me and some reading around the blogs, Harriet decided to give Dame Ivy another try.  And let there be rejoicing in the street, it worked!  Let Harriet explain it all, here.

2.) The book - just look what will be coming out in April...

3.) The link - I'm afraid I can't remember where I first saw this (it was on Facebook, let's face [ahem] it) but thanks if you brought it to my attention!  It's 30 of the Most Beautiful Abandoned Places - some really stunning, quite eerie, photos.

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0 Stuck-in-a-Book's Weekend Miscellany

I'm starting a new job on Monday (maternity cover) at Oxford University Press.  It's all happened very quickly - I applied for it two weeks ago - and I'm both excited and nervous.  I might well tell you more about it in the future, once I've worked out how much distance I ought to keep between my job and this blog, but for now I just want to explain why posts will be a bit sporadic for the next week or two, as I get used to a new environment.  But I've quite enjoyed posting every other day, for a bit, rather than everyday - because more people seem to interact with each post that way.

But don't worry, I'm definitely not going anywhere!  Stuck-in-a-Book is still very important to me.

Some quick weekend links...

1.) The book - is Jenn Ashworth's The Friday Gospels, which I'm 50 pages into.  I loved her A Kind of Intimacy, and have somehow still not read her second novel (bad Simon), but have gone straight onto the third, which Sceptre kindly sent me when I sent them a begging email.  It's about Mormons, and is from various different perspectives, all of which are wonderfully realised so far.  More soon...

2.) The link - Radio 4 do a programme all about Nancy Mitford!

3.) The blog post - I'm trying to resist writing about The Lizzie Bennet Diaries again (IT'S JUST GOT SO EXCITING), but I've found my way around that by linking, instead, to Iris's blog post about it, and about Pride and Prejudice's anniversary - have a gander here.

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0 Stuck-in-a-Book's Weekend Miscellany

Happy weekend y'all!  Hope everyone is very well.  I spent my Friday evening watching a great 1945 film I Live in Grosvenor Square with Rex Harrison and Anna Neagle - and, the reason I watched it, Dame Irene Vanbrugh!  It was the inaugural film in Andrea & Simon's Film Club (basically a fancy name for my friend Andrea and I taking it in turns to choose films) - I'll keep you posted if we watch anything really great.  And maybe I'll do a proper post on I Live in Grosvenor Square one day.

1.) The book - could have your name in it!  A youtuber I was watching mention U*Novels ('you star novels') which allows you to have specially printed editions of classic novels where you choose the names of the cast.  This could make a really fun gift.  Want to put your husband in as Mr. Darcy?  Fancy taking a trip to Wonderland and having your friends appear as the caterpillar or Chesire Cat?  It sounds silly and fun to me.

2.) The blog post - Melwyk over at The Indextrious Reader has started up a really interesting Postal Reading Challenge - reading books with postal themes (e.g. collections of letters - those of you who got excited about Maxwell/Welty or Maxwell/Warner collections could jump on board!)  Head over here to find out more.

3.) The link - I just wanted to remind you to WATCH THE LIZZIE BENNET DIARIES if you're not already.  (A re-telling of Pride and Prejudice through vlogs - I first wrote about here.) It's got so good recently - and Lydia Bennet's channel is also brilliant.  Mary Kate Wiles (along with the writers) has really fleshed out Lydia to be a very sympathetic, thorough character, rather than the silly, flighty girl that Lizzie sees (and thus that we see in the novel.)   Lydia's channel is here, and Lizzie's is here.   There are quite a lot of videos to watch, but I'll make it easy for you to start - here is ep.1 of Lizzie's channel.

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0 Stuck-in-a-Book's Weekend Miscellany

Welcome to the first Weekend Miscellany of 2013!  I hope you had a lovely Christmas and New Year, whoever you were with.  As of Thursday, I'm back in Oxford, having refuelled on cat, countryside, and family.

1.) The blog post - lovely Thomas at My Porch has had a clear-out, and (as well as admiring his lovely shelves) you can put your name in the draw for his duplicate Dorothy Whipple books.  US residents only, though, since he wanted to keep the Whipples in a country where they're difficult to find.  It's open til 31st January.

2.) The link - I've yet to listen to it, but Mary has passed on the info about a Radio 4 programme on the incredible Margaret Rutherford.  Click here for it.  If I had a time machine, I'd probably (mis)use it just to go and see her on the stage as Miss Hargreaves.  What bliss that would be...

3.) The book - I really loved The Lost Art of Keeping Secrets by Eva Rice (it was in my top books of 2008), so I was very excited to receive a review copy of her new book, The Misinterpretation of Tara Jupp - with a lovely note from Eva too.  My reading will be taken up by Vanity Fair for the foreseeable future, but Eva Rice's is one of many 21st century books I've been holding off until A Century of Books was finished.  If it's half as good as The Lost Art of Keeping Secrets, then I'll adore it!

And not forgetting... the readalong of Cheerful Weather for the Wedding is coming up soon!  A lovely lot of people seemed keen - see here for details - I suggest we post reviews sometime in the week beginning Monday 28th January, and I'll post links and have a discussion here.  Fun fun!

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0 Stuck-in-a-Book's Weekend Miscellany

It's all rather damp and miserable chez Stuck-in-a-Book at the moment.  Damp house, damp streets, even a book gone mouldy because I foolishly left it on the window sill (sorry, The Haunted Woman by David Lindsay, mea culpa.)  But by next weekend I'll be back home - with family, cat, log fire, and such.  So, my final damp weekend miscellany of 2012, and possibly my final weekend miscellany of 2012, damp or otherwise.

1.) The book - stuck for something to give a bibliophile under the Christmas tree?  I was recently sent 1001 Books You Must Read Before You Die by Octopus Publishing.  I'm sure a lot of us love these sorts of lists, and this book is far more than just lists, of course.  Lots of info by well-informed people (including my supervisor, I noticed!) as well as lovely pictures etc.  Since I've only read 80 or 90 of 'em, I've got plenty to go before I die.  More info here.  It's a really nicely produced book, and I think it would make for great discussion on Boxing Day.

2.) The link - will go over (or perhaps under) the heads of most, but I think some of you in your 20s will appreciate this... I was obsessed with R.L. Stine's Goosebumps books when I was about 10.  I'm sure OV and OVW can attest to my need to read them ALL, and they generously identified (and encouraged) the love of reading rather than my deplorable lack of taste.  For those not in the know, Goosebumps are 'horror' books for young children, with cliffhangers every few pages, utterly unconvincing characters, and always a huge, often nonsensical, twist at the end.  I loved 'em.  Well, some brave soul has re-read them all as an adult, and written hilarious reviews at Blogger Beware.  I've spent hours there.  Enjoy!

3.) The blog post - while quite a few bloggers do the TBR Challenge in the early months of the year, where they only read unread books from their shelves, Ali is spearheading A Month of Re-reading in January.  More info here, but the gist is pretty obvious - a month of re-reading books!  Lots of us who have 1001 books we want to read before we die (or before book group next Wednesday, as it may be) may feel like we never have time to re-read, so it's nice to set aside time to do it.  It wouldn't really work with my Reading Presently project, so I shan't be joining in this year, but it's something I'll definitely keep in mind for the future.

By the way, out of interest, are there many of you using the subscribe-by-email option?

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0 Stuck-in-a-Book's Weekend Miscellany

Happy Weekend, one and all.  And happy December, no less.  I'm feeling pretty proud of myself at the mo, because I've basically finished my Christmas shopping.  True, I wasn't buying for many, but it's nice to get it done and dusted, rather than trailing around Yeovil in the week before Christmas.  Yeovil is many things, but a horn o' plenty it is not.  I tell you what does keep giving and giving - and that's the Weekend Miscellany.  Enjoy!

1.) The book - I've tended to turn down review copies during 2012, as A Century of Books has restricted the (already limited) number of new books I wanted to read - but I was very tempted by A is for Angelica by Iain Broome, published by Legend Press.  Here's the info I was sent:

Set in a northern mining town, the novel deftly draws us into the secretive life of troubled Gordon Kingdom. Gordon struggles with the fate of his seriously ill wife and patiently observes the unusual goings-on of his neighbours in Cressingham Vale. The arrival of the enigmatic Angelica prompts Gordon to make difficult decisions, as well as to embark on a flurry of cake baking. The book elegantly weaves prosaic tragedy, dark comedy and Hitchcockian menace.

It all sounds like it might fit with my love of Edward Carey, Barbara Comyns etc.  I'll let you know when I get around to reading it!

2.) The blog post - I know I've been championing Claire's reading of A.A. Milne all year, but if you read only one review of an A.A. Milne book this year, make it her brilliant review of Peace With Honour.  It's definitely made me want to re-read it.

3.) The link - I've been getting into the sketch comedy of BriTANick on Youtube.  It's sometimes 'a little near the knuckle', as Our Vicar's Wife would say, but a lot of it is also very funny.  Here's their brilliant Every Academy Award Winning Movie Ever Trailer (er, the screencap isn't very representative of the content):

Detail: Stuck-in-a-Book's Weekend Miscellany

0 Stuck-in-a-Book's Weekend Miscellany

Another Saturday at work for me, but nothing planned for the evening - X Factor or Iris Murdoch?  Hmm.  It should be an easy choice, but I have to admit that I'm finding The Sea, The Sea rather ponderous.  It's a book group choice, and I do think it's very good, but it's not light reading.  And it is long.  You know how I feel about long books.  Over 500 pages of tiny font.  Huh.  I might be shouting at Louis Walsh instead...

Well, now that I've got that off my chest, I'll throw a book, a blog post, and a link your way.

1.) The book - came from Tara Books, an Indian company which produces really beautiful books.  I wrote  a bit about them here, two years ago, and now they've sent me another gem.  To celebrate Dickens' centenary (which has rather got lost in the whole Olympics fever, but let's remember it now!) they've produced a gorgeous copy of Dickens' Pictures from Italy, illustrated by Livia Signorini.  I think it would make a brilliant Christmas gift (oh, so early, sorry!) for any fan of Dickens in your life.  If that person happens to be you, then... so be it! ;)

2.) The link - was sent to me by my friend Rachel, and is about the language of P.G.Wodehouse.  Fun!

3.) The blog post - is by Karen/Kaggsy - the first person to review Guard Your Daughters after the mad rush for copies which happened when I waxed enthusiastic about it!  Read Kaggsy's review here, and revisit mine here, if you so wish.  She lucked out with a lovely (if oddly irrelevant to the book) cover for her copy - go have a gander.  (If you have reviewed Guard Your Daughters, on a blog or LibraryThing or whatever, then let me know!  I'm hoping to gather together reviews...)

Detail: Stuck-in-a-Book's Weekend Miscellany