Sleep is good, books are better
The list below is from a survey of the UK's top 15 favourite literary heroines. I admit I have a weakness for book lists, perhaps it's my book trade background. This list doesn't really have any surprises, light-hearted but worth perusing. Sadly no heroines from the Long Victorian pens of George Eliot, Wilkie Collins or... Continue Reading →
Can you identify the famous closing lines above? [Warning – clue below] To help you here is a list of the titles from which the lines were extracted - as usual they are presented in the order of when the book was published: Frankenstein by Mary Shelley (1818) The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre... Continue Reading →
No.2. Angel & Tess and Alec & Tess from Tess of the d'Urbervilles (Thomas Hardy) We continue our worst couples run down with Tess of the d'Urbervilles: A Pure Woman. It is a remarkable novel, full of interesting things and wonderful writing. And no less than two rotten relationships. Spoiler alert! Angel and Tess: This... Continue Reading →
I enjoyed the BBC Radio 4 programme In Our Time this week - a discussion of Tess of the d'Urbervilles. A point made was that Hardy is said to have claimed that Tess's appearance was based on Lady Agatha Thornycroft (nee Cox) - wife of the famous Victorian sculptor, Sir Hamo Thornycroft. However, there is... Continue Reading →
Can you identify these famous opening lines? [Answers below] Answers: Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë (1847) David Copperfield by Charles Dickens (1850) Notes from Underground by Fyodor Dostoyevsky (1864) Middlemarch by George Eliot (1871) Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy (1878) Jude the Obscure by Thomas Hardy (1895) Peter Pan by J.M. Barrie (1911) Ethan Frome... Continue Reading →
Can you identify the famous opening lines above? [Warning - clue below] To help you here is a list of titles from which the lines were extracted, in order of date published: Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë (1847) David Copperfield by Charles Dickens (1850) Notes from Underground by Fyodor Dostoyevsky (1864) Middlemarch by George Eliot... Continue Reading →
No.3. Laura Fairlie and Sir Percival Glyde from The Woman in White (Wilkie Collins) * * Spoiler alert - don't read this if you haven't yet read the book * * Oh dear - this marriage was spectacularly doomed from the start. The utterly broke Sir Percival Glyde can appear charming and gracious, but he's... Continue Reading →
At some point most of us take stock of our life, and maybe draw up a life list to get us where we want to go. I've written a few myself! Here is such a list from one of the greatest writers in history - Leo Tolstoy. Here is a list from the great Russian... Continue Reading →
Survey: Classic books British people have read or would like to read Life's too short to read classic books for any other reason than it's something we love to do. Once read they become part of us - part of our mental furniture - friends and companions for the rest of our lives. With that... Continue Reading →
No. 4. Madeline Bray and Arthur Gride from Nicholas Nickleby (Charles Dickens) Spoiler alert! The only reason this marriage doesn't happen is that Madeline's father dies one hour before the ceremony is due to begin. But imagine if it had. She is a sweet-natured 18 year old beauty, while he is a 75 year old... Continue Reading →
The Long Victorian 