Christmas shopping can be kind of stressful. Every year I have great ideas about what I want to get, but then when it comes time to actually buying I realise that I haven't left myself enough time or I can't find just the right thing. Sure, I should have started it earlier, especially since I'm …
A house made of glass, a boy whose father can't love him, a woman who finds love too late. Alice Hoffman writes about love and loss, with a hint of magic, in a way that no one else can. Her books feel like modern fairy tales, and they're always moving and a bit different. Orphaned …
A Catch-22 is "a dilemma or difficult circumstance from which there is no escape because of mutually conflicting or dependent conditions". (Thank you, Google) The book is about a number of these situations that occur in the army during a war, centering around a schmuck called Yossarian, who wants to get out but can't because …
Perhaps Hoffman's most well known book, and made into a film back in the 90's starring Nicole Kidman and Sandra Bullock, this book tells the story of the Owens sisters and their peculiar family. This is one of my very favourite books by Hoffman, and her most magical. Following the death of their parents, two …
What I loved about this book was that although it is about the sexual escapades and search for love by a 24 year old girl, which would normally lend itself to the chick lit territory, this book is actually about trauma and recovery too. Phoebe is a bright, beautiful girl, whose dreams to become an …
Continue reading Book Review: Like A Closed Fist by E H Nolan.
A doctor tells his daughter that there are three angels: the angel of life, the angel of death, and the third angel, who often appears as a person who needs your help. The book centres around three women of different generations, staying in London at the same hotel at different times, and how they are …
I really enjoyed this unusual book, a Booker Prize winner back in 1984, which was recommended to me for my reading list this year. It tells the story of Kere, a woman who lives in a tower and has distanced herself from other people, especially her family. But she finds herself drawn out of herself, …
Published back in 1956, this novel broke the bounds of what was acceptable and became a runaway best seller. Previous to it's publication, books and films revolved around women being the objects of desire, rather than possessing any, and small town America was felt to be safe, sleep and benign. And then this book came …
If you've ever been to a small town, where everyone knows everyone and each house is full of old names and ancient history, this book should feel familiar. It's the story of a place, from its foundation to current day. Each chapter tells a different part of local history, and family names and traits flow …
This year, in November, I set myself the task of writing a book. It had been germinating in my mind for a while, and I needed to get it down on paper. The story itself has aspects of Victorian Englands obsession with death and greiving, and the phenomenon of Spiritualism that rose up in that …
Continue reading Lily Dale: The Town That Talks To The Dead by Christine Wicker
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