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Hello, dear readers, It is time to leave this year behind. Let’s look back over the books we’ve read in 2017 and pick our favourites. But first,…… Read more “To the New Year, untouched and still possible”
Month: December 2017
She was still her own indomitable self,
Dear Willa, A Lost Lady (1923) is a story drenched in melancholy. A short-lived world is coming of age and, caught in its remaking, its inhabitants seem…… Read more “She was still her own indomitable self,”
Willa Cather
Willa Sibert Cather (December 7, 1873– April 24, 1947) was an American write. She graduated from the University of Nebraska–Lincoln and, in 1896, moved to Pittsburgh to…… Read more “Willa Cather”
She has done for me at last, Rachel my torment
Dear Daphne, In My Cousin Rachel (1951), you build up tension, chapter after chapter, by unravelling the personality of the eponymous character in all its complexity and…… Read more “She has done for me at last, Rachel my torment”
Strange can be quite normal
Dear Samanta, Your novel Fever Dream (2017), translated from the Spanish by Megan McDowell (Distanca de Rescate, 2014) takes the form of a conversation between a woman…… Read more “Strange can be quite normal”
Samanta Schweblin
Samanta Schweblin (1978) is an Argentinian writer. She studied Image and Sound at the University of Buenos Aires. Since 2012, Schweblin lives in Berlin. Awards In 2010, she…… Read more “Samanta Schweblin”
A year in first lines | 2017
Hey, you, Yes, you. Do you feel like playing a game? This is an idea that started with The Indextrious Reader, and I first saw it on…… Read more “A year in first lines | 2017”
I’ll describe my insanity through a sudden insight
Dear Christine, Do you know that feeling we have when we know where a book was going, and we know it could have worked – but it…… Read more “I’ll describe my insanity through a sudden insight”
Christine Angot
Christine Angot (born 7 February 1959) is a French writer. She was brought up by her single-parent mother. She went to university in Rheims, specialising in English and Law, but…… Read more “Christine Angot”
Oh we can afford very well to laugh at their ideas
Dear Jane, Ok, I confess: I’ve violated your correspondence, and I did it more than once. In my defence, though, I have to say that your letters…… Read more “Oh we can afford very well to laugh at their ideas”
Jane Welsh Carlyle
Jane Welsh Carlyle (née Jane Baillie Welsh, 14 January 1801 – 21 April 1866) was a Scottish writer. As a child, she was given private tuition at home, and later…… Read more “Jane Welsh Carlyle”
To show our scorn of pretending life’s a safe business
Dear Sylvia, Lolly Willowes (1926) is a satirical comedy of manners centred on an unmarried woman who suddenly decides to escape the claustrophobic domestic role her family tries…… Read more “To show our scorn of pretending life’s a safe business”
Sylvia Townsend Warner
Sylvia Townsend Warner (6 December 1893 – 1 May 1978) was an English writer. She was home-schooled by her father. At the outbreak of World War I, she moved to London and worked…… Read more “Sylvia Townsend Warner”
Virtue can sometimes be a little depressing
Dear Barbara, Excellent Women (1952) is a comedy of manners about a spinster surrounded by people who cannot see why she shouldn’t suffer for being single. She…… Read more “Virtue can sometimes be a little depressing”
Barbara Pym
Barbara Mary Crampton Pym (2 June 1913 – 11 January 1980) was an English writer. She studied at Queen’s Park School, in Oswestry, and attended Huyton College, near Liverpool. She…… Read more “Barbara Pym”
