Paying Guests by author, biographer, and memoirist E. F. Benson, first published in 1929, is a standalone novel, which appeared in publication order somewhere between his best-known Mapp and Lucia books. This story is set in the fictional Bolton Spa and around Wentworth, a boarding house which is far more elegant and luxurious than others,…
Guest Post: Book Review: The Black Camel by Earl Derr Biggers #1929club
Today, I have my mother's second pick, The Black Camel by Earl Derr Biggers. * * * Fourth in a series of six novels featuring the rotund Chinese detective, Charlie Chan, the pride of the Honolulu police, The Black Camel explores the world of Hollywood stars, theatre actors and their millionaire, and other not so…
Book Review: Mr Ma and Son by Lao She, translated by William Dolby #1929Club
My thanks to Penguin Press UK for a review copy of this book via NetGalley. Lao She was an author I first ‘met’ when I read John Fletcher’s Wuhan last year where he was a character and one of the narrators, and that book had left me wanting to explore She’s writings, so when this…
Guest Post: Book Review: William by Richmal Crompton #1929club
What fun! Its time for another of Karen and Simon's biannual book clubs and the year they picked this time is 1929. Another year rich in its literary pickings, this one has left me (and I'm sure everyone else) spoilt for choice. Like last time, I have read some of my picks but am yet…
Book Review: Always Gardenia (2018) by Betsy Hanson
My thanks to the author Betsy Hanson for taking the trouble to mail copy of this book all the way to me (and a very lovely one it is), and also to Ali from Heavenali for putting me in touch with Betsy. Always Gardenia (2018) transports readers to the charming, gentle, and yet very real…
Shelf Control #203: Captain Blood by Rafael Sabatini
Wednesday, the 12th of October, and time for Shelf Control once again! Shelf Control is a weekly feature hosted by Lisa at Bookshelf Fantasies, and celebrates the books waiting to be read on your TBR piles/mountains. To participate, all you do is pick a book from your TBR pile, and write a post about it--what…
Book Review: The Half Sisters by Geraldine Jewsbury
The Half Sisters (1848) is a novel by lesser-known Victorian writer Geraldine Jewsbury whose books are described as feminist, and which often questioned the conventional norms and roles that women at the time were confined to. Jewbury who was a novelist, book reviewer (with around 2,000 reviews to her credit, many for the Athenaeum), and…
Book Review: The Lighthouse at Montauk Point and Other Stories by R. David Fulcher
My thanks to the author R David Fulcher for a review copy of this book via Booktasters. The Lighthouse at Montauk Point and Other Stories is a collection of a dozen short stories, many just a page or two in length, others longer. The genres are varied, but most do have an element of the…
Book Review: The Legend of Sally Jones by Jakob Wegelius and translated by Peter Graves; illustrated by Jakob Wegelius
My thanks to Pushkin Press/Steerforth Press for a review copy of the book vie Edelweiss. Sally Jones is a gorilla (at times dressed in overalls) who serves with her friend the chief engineer aboard a ship, and moves comfortably among humans. In Wegelius’s The Murderer’s Ape, Sally must begin a harrowing quest when the Chief…
Shelf Control #202: Nine Lives: A Cat of London in Peace and War by Alice Grant Rosman
Wednesday, the 5th of October, and time for Shelf Control once again! Shelf Control is a weekly feature hosted by Lisa at Bookshelf Fantasies, and celebrates the books waiting to be read on your TBR piles/mountains. To participate, all you do is pick a book from your TBR pile, and write a post about it--what…
Literary Potpourri 