Weekend Miscellany

Hello all! I’m back from my blogging break, with fresh enthusiasm for it. And let’s kick off with a weekend miscellany – which is really just to remind you that the 1961 Club kicks off on Monday! Grab any book, in any language, format etc, first published in 1961 – and together we’ll read and review as many as we can. Can’t wait.

Alongside that, here is your book, blog post, and link…

1.) The link – I’ve just finished my final Muriel Spark novel, so it’s far too late for me to read an article by James Bailey called ‘Where to start with Muriel Spark‘, but it is interesting nonetheless.

2.) The book – talking of which, James Bailey has just published a new biography of Muriel Spark: Like A Cat Loves A Bird. I’m excited to read it at some point, and we do seem to be in a golden era of new Spark biogs (i.e. there is also Electric Spark by Frances Wilson).

3.) The blog post – I’m delighted to learn that Nicholas Royle has written another book about his bibliophilia – Finders, Keepers – and Karen’s review will make you as keen as I am to read it.

I recognise that, at the time of writing, the weekend is almost over – and somehow it is only my third post in February. It has been a busy year so far! I hope you’re having a good month – I’m pleased to say there are finally signs of spring in the air, and I even have a window open (albeit also a heated blanket). For the final hours of the weekend, here is a book, a blog post, and a link…

1.) The link – I enjoyed this Guardian article on reading targets, with quotes from a wide range of philosophies (and pics of the darling of Book YouTube, Jack Edwards, who seems like a wonderful advocate for reading. And followed me on Twitter back when I had a Twitter account, y’all).

2.) The blog post – is actually a video, forgive me. Ages ago I filmed with Shawn from Shawn Breathes Books about a book we both love: O, The Brave Music by Dorothy Evelyn Smith. And now you can watch our hour-long chat in the video below!

3.) The book – speaking of British Library Women Writers, I have now spotted a cover in the wild, so I’ll make a little announcement! It’s been a long time (too long) since we had a new novel in the series – but there will be one in June, and it’s the wonderful The Spring House by Cynthia Asquith. You can preorder in the usual places, and have a gander at what I thought of the book when I read it in 2024.

Happy weekend, everyone! I’m off to a wedding – for the past five or six years, I’ve been down to one wedding a year. How did I ever have the energy to go to five or so in a year? Anyway, this one is local and the weather looks good (but not too hot to put on a suit), and there are lots of people I know there – all ingredients for a fantastic day.

Hope you’re having a good one, however you’re spending it. Here’s a book, a blog post, and a link to accompany you through it.

1.) The book – I still haven’t read any Laurie Colwin, but was very tempted by Another Marvelous Thing (though that US spelling of ‘marvellous’ is very hard to take). Indeed, any W&N Essentials book looks irresistible in their striking new packaging, but Colwin stood out as a writer I’ve been meaning to try for a long time.

2.) The blog post – Moira at Clothes in Books has picked the best cosy crime novels.

3.) The link – is there more to say about the Salt Path situ? Yes, it turns out – Polly Aitken is a disabled nature writer who was told her writing was uncommercial if it didn’t include a miracle cure, and she has some very interesting things to say.

I had a few days where I couldn’t get into this blog, and the advice I got in various forums was kind but totally incomprehensible to me (PHP error log, who she?) – but the good people at the hosting company were able to sort me out, and I’m back. And I do have a pile of books to review, as per, though I’ve been doing more listening than reading quite a lot of the time. Anyway, hopefully will tell you about some of those soon – for now, it’s a book, a link, and a blog post.

1.) The blog post – Caro does such wonderful reviews of many of the British Library Women Writers titles, and I love her enthusiasm for G.B. Stern’s The Woman in the Hall.

2.) The link – in case any of you can get to the excellent (and chaotic) Hurlingham Books in London, they currently have piles of Virago Modern Classics going at £3 each.

3.) The book – how did I not know about And How Are You, Dr Sacks? by Lawrence Weschler? I love memoirs by people who knew and loved the great and the good. This one has been out for a few years, but my friend Rachel mentioned it this week and I knew it would have to be in my hands at some point.

Happy weekend, everyone! I will be hither and thither for much of it, so I’m glad the heatwave is over. I’m also finding myself not super in the mood for reading at the moment, which is very unlike me and will hopefully pass soon. (Not an eye issue this time, thankfully, just not always able to get into a book – more like the reader’s block I wrote about for Vulpes Libris years ago.)

But here is a book, a blog post, and a link to entertain you this weekend, whatever you are doing:

1.) The blog post – I loved Brona’s reminder of why Dept. of Speculation by Jenny Offill is so good.

2.) The book– I love Jenn Ashworth’s writing, particularly her novel Fell and her memoir Notes Made While Falling. She now has another memoir out – tellingly, given the recent Salt Path debacle, it’s about walking as a way of healing. I’m really keen to try The Parallel Path: Love, Grit and Walking the North.

3.) The link – and, just in case that mention above is baffling and you’re the one person in the bookish community who hasn’t read the exposé on The Salt Path – here is some brilliant journalism from Chloe Hadjimatheou.

Man, this hay fever is wiping me out. I’m so tired with it! And that’s even without taking the antihistamines that make me super drowsy (I’m taking the less drowsy ones). This is all small fry, but it’s my poor excuse for why I haven’t blogged much recently. There are some very enjoyable books I want to tell you about. Soon. But for now, it’s book, blog post, link time. Happy weekend, y’all.

1.) The blog post – Brad at Neglected Books has done a fascinating round up of lesser-known novels that take place in a day. He calls them circadian novels. By the nature of such a list, you might find they’re not very easy to track down – but I really enjoyed reading about them nonetheless.

2.) The book – I absolutely loved the bizarre, compelling stories in Suddenly, A Knock on the Door by Etgar Keret, but haven’t yet read any more of his fiction. But I’m still excited to learn that a new collection of his short stories has just come out – Autocorrect. Fingers crossed I’ll get my hands on it!

3.) The link – self-indulgently, it’s to my new podcast! My friend Lizzie and I now co-host an irreverent podcast about the soap opera Emmerdale called Dingle All The Way. The crossover audience with Stuck in a Book might be slim, but I thought I’d mention just in case… find it on Spotify or wherever you listen to podcasts.

Hope you’re having a good weekend! I have a jam-packed one, seeing lots of friends (and also the musical Titanique, which I’m very excited about). Along the way, I’ll be having my first ever Peruvian meal, or at least what London thinks is Peruvian food. Not to mention, of course, a handful of books along the way – a couple of train journeys will helpfully contribute there. I also have a pile of books I finished before May still waiting to be reviewed, as they were neglected for A Book A Day In May.

Whatever you’re up to, here are a book, a link, and a blog post to help you feeling weekendish.

1.) The link – ok, niche audience maybe, but my friend Lizzie and I have started a podcast about the soap opera Emmerdale! It’s called Dingle All The Way, after the Dingle family, and you can find it on Spotify or wherever you get podcasts.

2.) The blog post – I’m not going to lie, I was hoping to see more blog reviews of The Spring Begins by Katherine Dunning, especially as Scott (Furrowed Middlebrow) and I have both made it our top books of the year. It is now available, so please do go and read it! It’s marvellous! What are you waiting for! Don’t just take my word and Scott’s word for it – Caro has written a wonderful review too now.

3.) The book – yes, this book grabbed my attention because I misread the subtitle and thought it was 50 essays about Abigail’s Party, and wouldn’t that be wonderful? But, having corrected myself, I’m still intrigued by David Collard’s A Crumpled Swan: Fifty essays about Abigail Parry’s ‘In the dream of the cold restaurant’, which looks to be far more wide-ranging than the title suggests – looking at wider issues of writing and reading, using a single poem as a basis. It could be fantastic or it could be extremely self-indulgent, and I’ll need to read it to find out.

Happy weekend! I will be celebrating two of my lovely godchildren this weekend – the 1st birthday of one and the Christening of another. (Wish me luck getting a cake on the train and the tube!) Very exciting and lovely, and I hope your weekends are also looking special. Here, as ever, is a book, blog post, and link to keep you going through it.

1.) The link – you may remember Tanya’s excellent blog 20th-Century Vox. She writes elsewhere now, but it’s still a brilliant trove of reviews. Her writing is now often about indexing, which is her job and a topic I find fascinating. I recently read her article on the politics of indexing, which is something I’d never considered before and which really grabbed me.

2.) The book – I’ve mentioned it in a couple of places, but I just want to spread the word to anybody who has an Audible subscription: you can get their Virginia Woolf Collection free in the Audible Plus catalogue, and Kristin Scott Thomas reading Mrs Dalloway is the best audiobook experience I’ve ever had. (The other readings, of To The Lighthouse, A Room of One’s Own, and The Waves are also good, but there is something particularly magical about the combination of KST and Mrs D.)

3.) The blog post – I was intrigued by A Room Above A Shop by Anthony Shapland when I saw it in a bookshop recentliy, and enjoyed Susan’s review of it. I’m also interested in how this sort of colour-blocking abstract cover is all the rage at the moment.

Spring seems to have sprung. I went out without a coat! It’s all happening. And, since it’s International Women’s Day, I thought I’d mention the blog post I posted last year – ranking the British Library Women Writers titles. A few books have come out since then, and I’d put the forthcoming The Spring Begins by Katherine Dunning high up the list – probably #4. Available to preorder wherever you preorder!

1.) The book – Nicola Wilson sent me a proof of her book, which I’ve very excited about. It’s called Recommended! and is about the Book Society. I wrote about them during my doctorate – one of the book-of-the-month clubs that proliferated in the 1920s and ’30s, and I can’t wait to find out more about it. Readers of the Provincial Lady series will have come across several mentions of it already.

2.) The blog post – do go and wish Rebecca a happy 10th blog birthday! It feels like she’s been part of the blogosphere for even longer, and we’re lucky to have her wide-ranging, thoughtful posts.

3.) The link – well, it’s a video, but I wanted to highlight again the excellent Never Too Small series on YouTube. It looks at small homes (usually flats) around the world, and how clever architectural decisions have maximised their use. My only criticism is that usually they seem to be lived in by people who don’t own any possessions, but this recent home is clearly loved and lived in.

Happy March! Here in the UK we seem to be alternating bright sunshine and torrential rain. As I write this, it’s one of the sunny days – cold, sunny weather is my favourite, and hopefully it’ll continue as I jaunt round London this weekend. The world might continue to get worse and worse every day (don’t you miss the days when villains were at least a little nuanced? Not ‘I’m going to deprive the world’s most vulnerable and then lie about fraud’ levels evil?) but here’s a book, a link, and a blog post to make things feel momentarily less bleak.

1.) The book – I’m halfway through a proof copy of Mark Hussey’s Mrs Dalloway: Biography of a Novel and absolutely loving it. Hussey goes from the genesis of the novel through its writing to its publication, reception and aftermath. Definitely one for people who already know and love Mrs Dalloway, but I am happily in that camp. Looks like it’s out in May, so get your pre-orders in now.

2.) The link – not a usual one for me, and not about books, but this long read in the Financial Times by Madison Marriage is absorbing, excellent, and devastating. It’s about the inquest into her brother’s death, and the 48 hours that led to it while he desperately tried to get an urgent repeat prescription – and the ways the NHS, pharmacies and others failed him.

3.) The blog post – March is Reading Wales month – get some suggestions over at Booker Talk.