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Kate Macdonald

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Category: community life

Achachlacher, by Emma L Menzies

If you like the gentle narratives about English rural life in the early part of the twentieth century by 'Miss Read', you'll like Achachlacher. It's an epositolary novel about life in the Inner Hebrides, so gentle as to be barely there, and contains hardly anything said in anger, or that might cause controversy. Emma L … Continue reading Achachlacher, by Emma L Menzies →

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Kate 20thC, community life, Emma L Menzies, family saga, history, humour, Kailyard, letters, memoirs / diaries, middlebrow, middlebrow studies, Miss Read, nature, political / social commentary, sociology 2 Comments February 6, 2019

Three good books

For a change, here are three books I've read recently that I liked a lot. They are all satisfying, well-crafted reads, and I'm going to keep them all, but I don't have vast amounts to say about them other than 'they're good'. Mary Stewart, Thornyhold Mary Stewart writes about magic so convincingly that there must … Continue reading Three good books →

Kate 20thC, 21stC, biography, community life, Edwardian, Elizabeth Von Arnim, fantasy, H G Wells, Jessie Kesson, Lewis Grassic Gibbon, literary history, Mary Stewart, middlebrow studies, Nan Shepherd, passion and secrets, political / social commentary, the life of the times, the world of work 5 Comments January 26, 2019

Canadian sff: Sleeping Giants, and Bloody Rose

Two mini reviews of science fiction and fantasy novels by Canadian writers, of Sylvain Neuvel's Sleeping Giants, and Nicholas Eames' Bloody Rose. Sleeping Giants I enjoyed this a LOT. Partly it was the plot: gigantic metallic pieces of what appears to be a body are found buried in remote, and less remote, locations on Earth. … Continue reading Canadian sff: Sleeping Giants, and Bloody Rose →

Kate 21stC, baroque and dramatic, community life, drinking, fantasy, humour, Nicholas Eames, outdoor adventure, parody, political / social commentary, science fiction, Sylvain Neuvel, Terry Pratchett, the world of work, thriller, vaguely horror Leave a comment December 17, 2018

Peter Haring Judd, Figures in a Spare Landscape

In 1959, Peter Haring Judd became a history teacher in a secondary school in Maidaguri, the capital of Bornu province in northern Nigeria. He had completed his US military service and was looking for something to do with his life that the Peace Corps, to be founded two years later, would offer younger generations of … Continue reading Peter Haring Judd, Figures in a Spare Landscape →

Kate 20thC, community life, history, memoirs / diaries, nature, outdoor adventure, Peter Haring Judd, photography, political / social commentary, the life of the times, the world of work Leave a comment December 3, 2018December 5, 2018

Kathleen Jamie, Among Muslims

Once again, Kathleen Jamie's prose is a deep immersive pleasure, the kind of writing that stays with you for days. She's a poet and knows how to compress emotion and meaning into letters and pauses. I loved her Sightlines and Findings, both collections of essays and short pieces. This, earlier, book is, I think, even better. … Continue reading Kathleen Jamie, Among Muslims →

Kate 21stC, autobiography, community life, Kathleen Jamie, memoirs / diaries, nature, outdoor adventure, political / social commentary, sociology, the life of the times, travelogue Leave a comment November 19, 2018November 18, 2018

Clare Leighton, Four Hedges

This is a beautiful Little Toller production, a country yearbook from the 1930s, in which the sublime engraver and illustrator Clare Leighton and her husband took on a Buckinghamshire cottage and its garden. They still went to London to work at their professions, but lived part of the week, or month, in the cottage, and … Continue reading Clare Leighton, Four Hedges →

Kate 20thC, art, autobiography, Clare Leighton, community life, diary, history, memoirs / diaries, nature, political / social commentary, the life of the times, the world of work 2 Comments October 23, 2018October 23, 2018

A small pile of duds

Another episode in an occasional series in which I grumble about books I have not enjoyed. Links to earlier episodes are at the end. Runemarks by Joanne Harris I bought this on the strength of her The Book of Loki, which I really enjoyed. But Runemarks is dull, and so perfunctorily written, I’m boggled as … Continue reading A small pile of duds →

Kate 19thC, 21stC, community life, fantasy, George Eliot, Joanne Harris, nature, passion and secrets, political / social commentary, Rosamund Young, the life of the times, the world of work 1 Comment October 15, 2018October 12, 2018

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  • Three good books
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  • A Natural History of the Hedgerow, and ditches, dykes and dry stone walls
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Top Posts & Pages

  • About
    About
  • The Faerie Queene, by Edmund Spenser
    The Faerie Queene, by Edmund Spenser
  • Achachlacher, by Emma L Menzies
    Achachlacher, by Emma L Menzies
  • The joy of genderless space opera: Ann Leckie's Ancillary Sword
    The joy of genderless space opera: Ann Leckie's Ancillary Sword
  • George Orwell's The Road to Wigan Pier
    George Orwell's The Road to Wigan Pier
  • Working is good for you: Louisa May Alcott's An Old-Fashioned Girl
    Working is good for you: Louisa May Alcott's An Old-Fashioned Girl
  • Ben Aaronovitch, Lies Sleeping
    Ben Aaronovitch, Lies Sleeping
  • Stella Gibbons' Cold Comfort Farm
    Stella Gibbons' Cold Comfort Farm
  • The stratagems of aristocratic survival, in Colette's Julie de Carneilhan
    The stratagems of aristocratic survival, in Colette's Julie de Carneilhan
  • Canadian sff: Sleeping Giants, and Bloody Rose
    Canadian sff: Sleeping Giants, and Bloody Rose

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