Researcher in bibliotherapy and eighteenth-century print culture
“Winter is not a season, it’s an occupation.”
Sinclair Lewis, The Job
That most cold and contemptible of months, November, is at last behind us. Good riddance. I’ve never been able to bear that dank stretch between the glow of Halloween and the sparkle of Christmas. Continue reading “November Bookshelf: ABCs of Death”
“No live organism can continue for long to exist sanely under conditions of absolute reality.”
Shirley Jackson, The Haunting of Hill House
What book lover doesn’t love Halloween? Either you’re a horror fiend (like I am) in which case you want nothing more than to be chilled by Shirley Jackson or MR James, or you’re timid to the holiday’s proclivities, in which case a book is the perfect distraction. What could be better than a book and a hot drink when the moon is full and witches are abroad? Continue reading “October Bookshelf: Men, Women, and Normal People”
“After nourishment, shelter and companionship, stories are the thing we need most in the world.”
Philip Pullman
September was spent on a train, I feel. I commute almost an hour to work in the morning, and though it eats up a lot of my day I find myself not really minding (though I at least partly credit it for the increase in colds I’ve had recently). Continue reading “September Bookshelf: Descent into Idiothood”
“No spring nor summer beauty hath such grace as I have seen in one autumnal face.”
John Donne, ‘The Autumnal’
August has been an odd month, chez Glover. I’ve hardly been home, and I don’t read a lot when I travel. Between a weekend at the hospitality of Stendhal festival (where I did read quite a bit, in fact, but it was The Very Hungry Caterpillar to an audience of rapt five-year-olds) and my annual retreat to the cinema for five days at Arrow Video Frightfest, I’m afraid I’ve been more of a square-eyes than a bookworm. Continue reading “August Bookshelf: Modern Rest and Relaxation”
“Did you know, Putnam, more people are murdered at ninety two degrees Fahrenheit than any other temperature? I read an article once — lower temperatures people are easy-going, over ninety two it’s too hot to move but just ninety two, people get irritable!“
Sheriff Warren, It Came from Outer Space
Let us just agree that June didn’t happen. It was a sweaty, stagnant month and I spent too much of it depressed and not reading. Continue reading “July Bookshelf: Sour Stories of Heartburn”
“I think that it is perfectly normal to talk to oneself occasionally. It’s not as though I’m expecting a reply. I’m fully aware that Polly is a houseplant.”
Gail Honeyman, Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine
What a gorgeous May! What a completely excellent specimen of weather! I did so much reading outdoors this month that my skin tone has gone from ‘uncooked bread dough’ to ‘undercooked bread dough’. Continue reading “May Bookshelf: My Thesis is Completely Fine”
“One cannot think well, love well, sleep well, if one has not dined well.”
Virginia Woolf, A Room of One’s Own
I am not, currently, dining well. Last week I suffered the unique displeasure of having two wisdom teeth removed, and have therefore been on mashed bananas and yoghurt for a few days. Today I attempt solid food and am positively salivating. Continue reading “April Bookshelf: Bitter Little Murders”
