Weekend Miscellany

Happy weekend, and my, aren’t the nights drawing in? My little flat doesn’t have central heating, so expect to find me under a pile of duvets and blankets and an artfully placed cat. Still, it’s a good excuse to do very little but read and drink tea. Which is my usual practice, but now with added legitimacy.

Before I go onto the book, blog post, and link – Karen and I wanted to announce the year that we chose for the next club. We were delighted to get really thoughtful suggestions from people, and may well store these up for next October’s club – but for next April, we’re going with a year suggested by Paula: 1965! You’ve got months and months to prepare :)

1.) The link – this is an interesting discussion about working with the elusive Elena Ferrante, for the HBO version of her novel.

2.) The book – another book about reading that I am coveting! This one is by Anne Bogel, called I’d Rather Be Reading. Isn’t that cover lovely?

3.) The blog post – Resh has written a characteristically interesting about Instagram trends in book photography and how people have reacted to it… featured lots of lovely book photography, of course.

Guess who has a cold? It’s ME. Doh. But I’m hoping that it’ll be out of the way before I see SHANIA TWAIN next Tuesday. I’m very excited about that. First in line for tickets, gotta see that show for sure. (Full marks if you know that Shania reference.) Anyway, I hope you’re having a great weekend – and here’s a book, a link, and a blog post to help you along.

1.) The book – Stuart Turton’s The Seven Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle is now out in paperback, so I thought I’d let you know if you were waiting for a less heavy edition to read! (And you can check out the ‘Tea or Books?’ episode where Rachel and I discussed it alongside Agatha Christie.)

2.) The link – is sneakily also a blog, but it’s a piece in the Guardian about Sophie Baggott’s blog, reading 200 books by women from different countries across the world. Presumably not all different countries, since I don’t think there are 200 countries.

3.) The blog post – check out JacquiWine’s excellent review of Someone at a Distance by Dorothy Whipple. If you’ve not read it yet – please do!

I’ve got another pretty busy weekend, though hopefully also enough time to finish off some of the books I’ve been reading. I’m reading so many at the moment, including some really good ones – it feels like 2018 has been a great reading year. I hope you also have a fun weekend planned – and here’s a book, a blog post, and a link to accompany you on it…

1.) The book – people keep writing books about reading, and I keep lapping them up. The latest I’ve spotted is Book Girl by Sarah Clarkson, which I think looks at a love of reading from a specifically Christian perspective. Um, hi book that puts together my two favourite things!

2.) The blog post – the Persephone Readathon has kicked off over at Dwelling in Possibility! Do go and check it out, and join in. I’m planning on reading Tory Heaven by Marghanita Laski.

3.) The link – you might well know Kate Beaton for her hilarious Hark, A Vagrant! cartoon. If you follow her on Twitter, you probably know that she recently lost her sister after a protracted and hideous experience of cancer. She has written movingly about it at The Cut.

Guys. I’m SO excited. I’m spending my Saturday at Astley Book Farm! I will report back in due course – why is it called that? do they farm books there? – but just think of me madly shoving books into my bag and living my very best life.

I can’t promise that a weekend miscellany will be quite as good, but it’s better than nothing, right? Here’s a book, a blog post, and a link to help you out if you’re spending your weekend is less of a biblio-heaven.

1.) The book – is one I heard about during an episode of the Chat 10 Looks 3 podcast (essentially two Australian journalists talking about culture, food, books, everything in a very funny way). It’s called The Devil’s Candy by Julie Salamon, and is a non-fiction look at the making of a movie of Tom Wolfe’s The Bonfire of the Vanities. Which was a massive flop and a terrible production. It sounds fascinating. (It’s also super long, which is why I haven’t quite bought it yet.) It’s from 1991 – has anybody read it?

2.) The link – Waterstones has been bought by Foyles. Eep. Apparently in a battle against Amazon? Sad to see an independent go to the wall.

3.) The blog post – I enjoyed this review of Memento Mori by Muriel Spark, over at 746 Books. Yay Muriel!

A very happy weekend to you all – I will be enjoying it by running a stall at the village fete. I’m fully immersed in village life now, donchaknow. If you can’t make it along to my stand (bowling, at the time of writing) then perhaps this book, blog post, and link(s!) will do instead…

1.) The book – I loved Edward Carey’s strange and fascinating novel Alva & Irva, and also enjoyed Observatory Mansions, so I’m pleased to see he has another novel out soon – Little, about the life of Madame Tussaud. Find out more…

2.) The link – there are two this week, because they’re both interesting in different ways. The first – has Instagram changed how book covers are designed? And the second – oddly mesmeric photographs of abandoned mansions across Europe.

3.) The blog post – fans of D.E. Stevenson, you’ll be pleased to hear about the new reprints coming from Furrowed Middlebrow and Dean Street Press. Discover which titles in Scott’s announcement post.

This feels like the first day in ages where I’ve had nothing to do, and I fully intend to spend it sleeping, reading, and lying about. I’ve seldom been more excited about a weekend’s activity. And, before I go, here’s a book, a link, and a blog post…

1.) The book – was sent as a review copy by Michael Walmer. You might know the novelist F Tennyson Jesse, but did you know her sister Stella wrote Eve in Egypt? I’m hoping to read it before too long – but find out more here.

2.) The blog post – thinking about Michael Walmer made me wish more of his Stella Benson reprints were available. I’m sure they’ll be coming, but in the meantime reading more about Stella Benson led me to this amazing and thorough (ten-year-old) blog post about Benson. The blogger compares her to Robin Hyde, whom I haven’t read but who has been republished by Persephone.

3.) The link – I used to link to my OxfordWords article quite regularly. What I write for Oxford Policy Management might be of more niche interest – but, anyway, here’s a piece I wrote on the status of development in Malawi.

Another very busy weekend for me, off to Bristol and then playing the organ in our local church again on Sunday (despite, yes, not really knowing how to play the organ properly) – but I can leave you with a book, a link, and a blog post.

1.) The link – is not an easy read, but as the first anniversary of the fascist rally and murder in Charlottesville comes around, this oral history from the BBC is worth reading.

2.) The blog post – Darlene has written about the letters of Virginia Woolf and Vita Sackville-West so winningly that I *really* hope I have them somewhere, as I suspect I do. I would hardly be me if I did not.

3.) The book – did you know that a novelisation of Shirley Jackson’s life existed? Or, rather, a made-up event using her real life as the surrounding, I think… It’s soon to be turned into a film, but the original 2014 book is Shirley by Susan Scarf Merrell and I’m very intrigued… anybody read it?

I’m going to be spending the weekend with family, which is the nicest way to spend a weekend. Apparently it’s going to rain for much of it – which has been very welcome, but isn’t ideal for a BBQ. But I’m certainly not going to complain, after the heatwave we’ve been having. I hope you have a wonderful weekend, and here’s a book, a blog post, and a link to help you do so…

1.) The link – this oral history of The Parent Trap (1990s remake) is the article you didn’t know you needed, but also sort of did know you needed.

2.) The book – I love Daunt Books choices of books, and their designs. How lovely does this edition of Cassandra at the Wedding by Dorothy Baker look? If I didn’t already have an (unread) Virago Modern Classic then I’d be snapping it up. Anybody read it? (You can find out more at their website.)

3.) The blog post – my friend Tom (who runs the Indie Fic Lit blog) has written really interestingly about the benefits to publishers and authors of buying directly from their websites – something I hadn’t really thought of before, and which I will from now on!

This week has been long. And sometimes a bit wearying. It started off with a nasty cold and feeling very sorry for myself. It ended with Trump coming to the UK with his hideous rhetoric about immigrants and general terribleness – I went to Blenheim Palace to protest. He truly is a terrible, terrible human being, and I’m ashamed that the leaders of my country were so sycophantic to him – though proud of the protests that the British people have put on in response.

Anyway. Ugh. Here’s a book, a link, and a blog post to distract ourselves…

1.) The blog post – is on Medium, which feels very millennial of me (is Medium still a thing?) It’s about the buy-out of Capitol Hill Books by the employees and friends of the eccentric owner Jim Toole. I’ve been a couple times, and love it, and the post is quite amusing. I’m so pleased this bookstore is sticking around, so close to the political heart of the US.

2.) The book – where did I hear about Avid Reader by Robert Gottlieb? Can’t remember, but it’s another book about reading (and an autobiography) that I will inevitably buy at some point. With his heritage working at Simon and Schuster, Alfred Knopf, and The New Yorker, how could this not be good?

3.) The link – with Trump on the mind, here’s a link for the best places to donate to help migrant and refugee families at the US/Mexico border. It’s from a few weeks ago, when the situation was a little different, but they could still do with all the compassion and help that we can give.

Happy weekend! I suspect it’s a scorcher (if you’re in the northern hemisphere – well, much of it), but I’m not intending to leave the house very much. I’m busy taking “feed a cold” seriously, and catching up on the excellent sitcom Superstore. And maybe a bit of reading because (a) why not?, and (b) I have two enormous books to read for Tea or Books? and I’m behind. But here’s a book, a blog post, and a link…

1.) The book – I absolutely covet The Illustrated Dust Jacket 1920-1970 by Martin Salisbury, and not just for that frankly stunning cover. My friends Paul and Kirsty got a copy and I flicked through it and it is gorgeous AND educational. I will give in and buy it soon, I’m sure.

2.) The blog post – Check out Ali’s wonderful review of Four Day’s Wonder by my pal A.A. Milne. I can’t remember if I’ve already posted it here or just on Twitter, but you can get five A.A. Milne books for the absurdly cheap price of £7.99. Do it, and start with either this or the glorious Mr Pim Passes By, please.

3.) The link – It’s sort of another bunch of blog posts, but I’m sure we can all make our peace with that. Basically, go to Shiny New Books and look at the Man Booker retrospective – where different reviewers have been covering all the winners (including me on Penelope Fitzgerald’s Offshore).