The most surprising thing happens on page 47 of this edition: Lord Peter proposes marriage to Harriet Vane who’s in prison for poisoning her former lover. This is just after…
British
The Turn of the Key
April 20, 2020In the vein of Gone Girl and The Girl on the Train, this new novel by Ruth Ware seeks to revise and update Henry James’s The Turn of the Screw…
Normal People
February 8, 2020I affirm that Sally Rooney is a very clever writer, attuned to nuance of language and social behavior. How else would I be so compelled to read a novel about…
Rebecca
July 11, 2019I can’t believe I’ve never read this novel before. I’m sure I’m about to offend someone but I’ll just say it: Rebecca is such a Jane Eyre knock-off. And I’m such…
The Castle of Otranto
June 2, 2019This book is bonkers. I live-tweeted my reading experience. I wonder if I can copy that link here? Let’s try it: “Otranto is Bonkers” by @KdholzerMy
A Murder is Announced
May 29, 2019The first Miss Marple mystery I’ve ever read and I liked it a lot. I just finished writing a book review of Andrew Hobbs’ A Fleet Street in Every Town: The…
Eleanor Oliphant Is Completely Fine
May 17, 2019Captain Raymond Holt narrates this book. Wait, no that’s not quite right. It’s, rather, a Scottish woman who is channeling her mother’s hyper-grammatically-correct-judgmental voice. Don’t let the Reese Witherspoon endorsement…
Magpie Murders
December 29, 2018About fifteen pages into this book, I started thinking about one of my favorite TV shows, Midsomer Murders. The book starts out exactly that way, introducing a network of characters, all…
The Woman Who Did
July 13, 2018Probably the most depressing thing I’ve read all year. This 1895 novella by Grant Allen features a fiercely principled woman, Herminia Barton, who refuses to marry (before and after she…
Emma
August 31, 20172017 is the 200th anniversary of Jane Austen’s death. I’m not sure why that is something to celebrate, but whatever. Austen fans are a peculiar breed. I am not one,…