Oh my goodness me… 5 years ago, I ambitiously made a list of 57 books that I planned reading by January 2023. Worryingly enough, it is somehow already December 2022. So here are some books from the list that I actually own, and haven’t read yet. This is a much abridged version of the full list – I’m also not including the books that I … Continue reading The Classics Club Reading List
The joy of the book is that things are far more complex as they seem. Although one does occasionally feel tempted to hit Newland Archer with a stick.the joy of the book is that things are far more complex as they seem. Although one does occasionally feel tempted to hit Newland Archer with a stick. Continue reading Edith Wharton’s “The Age of Innocence” – book review
There’s been a long break from the blog – and here’s why. Because of the booming stats. Continue reading Why I took a blogging break
Toussaint Louverture was a man of many stories. Continue reading Sudhir Hazareesingh “Black Spartacus” – book review
I just finished Caroline Hirons’s book Skincare the other day. It made me think about the variety of skincare books that I’ve read in the last few years. Clearly my skin is not perfect. If it was, I wouldn’t be reading all those books about skin, would I? I’d just be wandering around with my lovely looking skin and not worrying about it. Instead, I tend to … Continue reading The skincare book review
This is the first, most famous, volume of Maya Angelou’s autobiography. She describes what it was like to grow up as a black girl in the US in the 1930s. Continue reading Maya Angelou “I know why the caged bird sings” – book review
My least favourite part of “Sapiens” were Harari’s predictions about the future: and here was a book that consisted solely of his predictions of the future. Continue reading Yuval Noah Harari “Homo Deus” – book review
“It was the most terrible conflict that anyone could remember. Entire kingdoms were mobilized for combat. Slaughter fit to stupefy poets was visited on the ranks of the rival combatants. The memory of it would long endure. (…) “Æðelstan cyning lædde fyrde to Brunanbyrig”: Athelstan the king led the levy to Brunanburh. (…) At stake, though, was not just the future of Athelstan’s kingdom. Beyond the world … Continue reading Tom Holland’s “Athelstan” – book review
For a book to become a relic, it had to be something very special indeed… Continue reading Christopher de Hamel “The Book in the Cathedral: The Last Relic of Thomas Becket” – book review
The first thing to note is that “Acting with power” is not necessarily meant as “behaving with power”. Gruenfeld does genuinely mean “acting” in the same way as Judi Dench would do. Continue reading Deborah Gruenfeld “Acting with Power” – book review
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