For a Venetian Pastoral, by Giorgione – Dante Gabriel Rossetti

Because the blogosphere has been celebrating Venice in February and because I have read 3 works set in Venice but had no time to write the accompanying posts, I thought I’d find a poem set in Venice for this month’s Read More Poetry event. Cue sonnet by Dante Gabriel Rossetti, inspired in 1849 as he [...]

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Second Helpings: Someone At A Distance – Dorothy Whipple

How many boxes can one book tick?  1953 in my personal 20th century challenge – tick  A long-overdue second helping from Persephone -  tick.  Then I discovered that Whipple was a Lancastrian lass – she lived in Blackburn no less.  (I went to grammar school there.)   Ever so interesting and that’s before I even started to [...]

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London 2012 Part 1 – Let them have cake …(and let them eat it too!)

Esconsed as I am to the north of Hadrian’s Wall, I am sometimes frustrated at the number of invites to blogging parties in London that I must turn down.   One day, I promised myself, one day, I’ll accept.  Well that day arrived last week and so last Thursday I stepped on the 06:37 train to Euston. I [...]

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Literary Blog Hop

Here we go.  It’s time for the latest literary blog hop and have I got a treat for you! When they are well done, I really admire modern works based on classic originals.  When an author can produce a whole series of them, then I’m doubly impressed. Roger N Morris has reinvented Dostoevsky’s detective Porfiry Petrovich and [...]

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Second Helpings: Into The Darkest Corner – Elizabeth Haynes

How can a debut novel be a second helping you ask?  Fittingly in two respects:  1) It’s the second novel I’ve read by the publisher.  I thoroughly enjoyed Isobel Ashdown’s Glasshopper 18 months two and a half years ago. (How time flies!)  Delighted to say I enjoyed this just as much and will, as a result, [...]

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Corrag – Suzanne Fletcher

I ran so fast that the air I breathed had snow on it, in it, and so I had snow in my mouth and lungs. I thought of my mare. How fast she would have carried me. How white she would have been in the falling white. So I ran from the water and I [...]

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Bookshelves #4: Welcome to Lizzy’s Library …..

It’s a triple celebration today. It’s my 5th blogiversary and the blog has now reached the 250,000 hit milestone.  Thank you, one and all.  You are all invited to the official opening of Lizzy’s Library. Finally, in my early-50′s, a childhood dream has come true.  I always wanted floor-to-ceiling shelves in a room dedicated to my literary passions!  [...]

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Second Helpings: The News Where You Are – Catherine O’Flynn

I’m using the second month of the TBR dare to revisit authors or publishers who so impressed me first time around that a second helping was called for. I ended my review of O’Flynn’s debut with the sentence “I look forward to her second”.  That was true although I chose not to read it until [...]

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Brian Moore Giveaway results

Sunday became Monday far too quickly.  But I’m here now. There were 6 entries and random.org has chosen the winners. Here are your sets: 1: 1, 2, 6 Timestamp: 2012-02-06 18:29:20 UTC Congratulations to:  Alana, John and Ceri. Please email your address details to lizzysiddal at yahoo dot com and I’ll do the honours.  I’ll schedule [...]

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TBR Double Dare and Book Cull Update

The 1st month of the TBR Double Dare has passed. I read 7 from the shelves and listened to one audio book loaned from the library. Of the seven I have already reviewed 4.  Reviews of the other 3 will follow during February as in the second month of the year, this blog will focus on Second Helpings.  [...]

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