The topic this week for Top Ten Tuesday is “Books for Armchair Travellers.” Since I haven’t ventured overseas for at least five years I’m going to keep my list within the borders of the United Kingdom. Let’s start in the north with Scotland. 1. The Cone Gatherers by Robin Jenkins One thing Scotland has in […]
When I think about Émile Zola, my mind is filled with characters whose lives are blighted by poverty, vice and alcoholism. Most of the Zola novels I’ve read so far are all about the bleakness of life in late nineteenth century France, its people weighed down by capitalism, industrialisation and political intrigue. The Dream (Le […]
The Classics Club Spin delivered number …. … thus giving me the chance to read La Cousine Bette (Cousin Bette) by Honoré De Balzac. Published in 1847 which is roughly when the novel is set, Cousin Bette is about a middle-aged woman who plots the destruction of her extended family. Bette resents her cousin Adeline Hulot […]
it’s time for another round of the classic club spin and this time I’m hoping to get something from Wales or Ireland
Reading Wales Month will be back for its ninth year in March, giving readers around the world a chance to celebrate literature from this Celtic nation. If you’ve ever wondered if there is more to Welsh writing than Dylan Thomas and Roald Dahl, then now is your chance to find out. The answer, of course, […]