Skip to content

Kate Macdonald

about writing, reading and publishing

  • Home
  • About
  • My books
  • Chapters and articles
  • Research and databases
  • non-London novels
  • I write fiction too

Category: letters

Books I Want To Keep

I have read so many duds and books recently that I gave up on because their meh factor was way too high. These are the pearls in a bit of a swamp, the ones I actually finished. Bea Howe, Lady With The Green Fingers. The Life of Jane Loudon I rather unfairly only think of … Continue reading Books I Want To Keep →

Advertisement
Kate 17thC, 19thC, 20thC, 21stC, Alan Garner, Amy Chavez, Amy Stanley, animals, Anne Hill, Bea Howe, biography, community life, Evelyn Waugh, family saga, fashion history, Heywood Hill, history, letters, nature, Pauline Innis, political / social commentary, sociology, the life of the times, the world of work, travelogue, wartime 5 Comments November 12, 2022November 16, 2022

More good books

Books that have shone out during my recent long run of duds as being really splendid reads, giving me faith that good books are out there if you keep at it long enough. Gossamer Years This is the revised translation by Edward Seidensticker from 1960 of a nameless 10th-century Japanese noblewoman’s complaints about her very … Continue reading More good books →

Kate 10thC, 20thC, 21stC, Alvaro Cunqueiro, art, baroque and dramatic, Ben McGrath, bildungsroman, biography, community life, Edward Seidensticker, fantasy, feminism, fine art, Henry James, history, Jennifer Nansubuga Makumbi, Kaouther Adimi, letters, magical realism, myth, nature, outdoor adventure, passion and secrets, political / social commentary, sea stories, teenage romance, terribly refined, the life of the times, the world of work, translation, travelogue, wartime 4 Comments July 31, 2022November 16, 2022

Daughter of the Desert, by Georgina Howell

This biography of Gertrude Bell begins slowly, rockets up to high speed, but goes a bit flumph at the end. As the Guardian's review back in 2006 noted, Howell seems to regard Bell's thwarted love affair with a married man as the central moment of her subject's life, and is not interested enough in the … Continue reading Daughter of the Desert, by Georgina Howell →

Kate 19thC, 20thC, animals, archaeology, architecture, biography, Georgina Howell, history, letters, nature, outdoor adventure, passion and secrets, political / social commentary, the life of the times, the world of work, translation, travelogue, wartime 3 Comments April 20, 2022April 20, 2022

Judith Mackrell, Bloomsbury Ballerina

I lived outside the UK from 2001 to 2016, so I missed a lot of new books I would otherwise have gobbled up on their first publication. (There were good English bookshops where we lived, but I still missed things.) I only realised that this exceptional biography of Lydia Lopokova existed because I met a … Continue reading Judith Mackrell, Bloomsbury Ballerina →

Kate 21stC, ballet, baroque and dramatic, biography, community life, history, Judith Mackrell, letters, literary history, political / social commentary, the life of the times, the world of work, theatreland, wartime 5 Comments February 17, 2022

Read With Pleasure

I did enjoy reading these, but I haven’t got a whole blogpost’s worth to say about each of them. Please accept these brief paras in the spirit of strong recommendation. Una McCormack, The Greatest Story Ever Told I bought this from NewCon Press, one of a trilogy of themed novels about a populated Mars, with … Continue reading Read With Pleasure →

Kate 20thC, 21stC, Colm Tóibín, community life, Edwardian, essays, Harold Nicolson, historical romance, humour, Lawrence Durrell, letters, literary history, nature, passion and secrets, Patrick Campbell, political / social commentary, R A Dick, science fiction, sea stories, the life of the times, Thomas Hardy, travelogue, Una McCormack, wartime 7 Comments February 4, 2022

Kerri Andrews, Wanderers. A History of Women Walkers

Where Rebecca Solnit's Wanderlust is a theoretical and philosophical discussion of women and walking, Wanderers is a set of case studies from three hundred years of (mostly) British women walking and writing about it. It leans on Wanderlust, but it's a robust book on its own, with depth and range to keep a reader happy … Continue reading Kerri Andrews, Wanderers. A History of Women Walkers →

Kate 18thC, 19thC, 20thC, 21stC, biography, community life, diary, feminism, history, Kerri Andrews, letters, literary history, memoirs / diaries, nature, outdoor adventure, passion and secrets, political / social commentary, the life of the times, travelogue 9 Comments January 25, 2021January 25, 2021

Letters to and from Sylvia Townsend Warner

I've spent the sixteen days since Christmas reading the letters that Sylvia Townsend Warner wrote to and received from two of her most constant and articulate correspondents, David Garnett and William Maxwell. Both books were presents, and shoved aside all other claims from the reading pile. Sylvia and David knew each other in the 1920s, … Continue reading Letters to and from Sylvia Townsend Warner →

Kate 20thC, animals, autobiography, biography, community life, David Garnett, diary, getting published, humour, letters, literary history, memoirs / diaries, nature, passion and secrets, poetry, political / social commentary, short stories, Sylvia Townsend Warner, the life of the times, the world of work, William Maxwell 5 Comments January 11, 2021January 10, 2021

Sarah Lonsdale, Rebel Women Between The Wars

I pre-ordered this book because I’ve been waiting for it for a very long time. Lonsdale has been researching women journalists and journalism in British fiction for much of her career as an academic at City University London, and before that was a journalist writing for a variety of papers and magazines. Rebel Women Between … Continue reading Sarah Lonsdale, Rebel Women Between The Wars →

Kate 20thC, baroque and dramatic, biography, community life, Edwardian, fashion history, feminism, getting published, history, letters, memoirs / diaries, outdoor adventure, passion and secrets, political / social commentary, Sarah Lonsdale, technology, the life of the times, the world of work, wartime 1 Comment November 7, 2020November 7, 2020

Michael Bloch, James Lees-Milne. The Life

I read the first volume of James Lees-Milne's edited diaries, Ancestral Voices, which cover the years 1942-43, and was both repelled by his spiky and judgemental personality, and intrigued by his account of social history and the Blitz experience. But the diaries were very edited, and JLM assumed that his readers would understand his allusions … Continue reading Michael Bloch, James Lees-Milne. The Life →

Kate 20thC, architecture, art, baroque and dramatic, biography, diary, fine art, history, James Lees-Milne, letters, memoirs / diaries, Michael Bloch, oneupmanship, passion and secrets, political / social commentary, publishing, terribly refined, the life of the times, the world of work 8 Comments May 19, 2020

Mary Beard, The Invention of Jane Harrison

This is an early book by Mary Beard, from 2002. It costs a LOT for a slow print on demand order from an online bookshop which doesn’t begin with A, ultimately from Harvard University Press. But it’s worth it, I think, and here are the reasons. If you’re interested in Jane Ellen Harrison, one of … Continue reading Mary Beard, The Invention of Jane Harrison →

Kate 21stC, archaeology, architecture, art, biography, diary, Eugenie Sellers, feminism, fine art, Hope Mirrlees, Jane Harrison, letters, literary history, memoirs / diaries, oneupmanship, outdoor adventure, passion and secrets, political / social commentary, the life of the times, the world of work, travelogue 3 Comments March 30, 2020

Posts navigation

Older posts
Follow Kate Macdonald on WordPress.com

Recent Posts

  • Margaret Irwin’s Elizabeth novels
  • Harold Nicolson, Public Faces
  • A mixed bag
  • The Good Books of 2022
  • Books I Want To Keep
There ain't no pay in blogging, and when there ain't no regular income either, every little helps, and is gratefully received. Thank you! Donate Button

Archives

  • March 2023
  • February 2023
  • December 2022
  • November 2022
  • October 2022
  • August 2022
  • July 2022
  • June 2022
  • May 2022
  • April 2022
  • March 2022
  • February 2022
  • January 2022
  • December 2021
  • November 2021
  • October 2021
  • September 2021
  • May 2021
  • February 2021
  • January 2021
  • December 2020
  • November 2020
  • October 2020
  • September 2020
  • August 2020
  • July 2020
  • May 2020
  • April 2020
  • March 2020
  • February 2020
  • January 2020
  • December 2019
  • November 2019
  • October 2019
  • September 2019
  • August 2019
  • July 2019
  • June 2019
  • May 2019
  • April 2019
  • March 2019
  • February 2019
  • January 2019
  • December 2018
  • November 2018
  • October 2018
  • September 2018
  • August 2018
  • July 2018
  • June 2018
  • May 2018
  • April 2018
  • March 2018
  • February 2018
  • January 2018
  • December 2017
  • November 2017
  • October 2017
  • September 2017
  • August 2017
  • July 2017
  • June 2017
  • May 2017
  • April 2017
  • March 2017
  • February 2017
  • January 2017
  • December 2016
  • November 2016
  • October 2016
  • September 2016
  • August 2016
  • July 2016
  • June 2016
  • May 2016
  • April 2016
  • March 2016
  • February 2016
  • January 2016
  • December 2015
  • November 2015
  • October 2015
  • September 2015
  • August 2015
  • July 2015
  • June 2015
  • May 2015
  • April 2015
  • March 2015
  • February 2015
  • January 2015
  • December 2014

Top Posts & Pages

  • Gene Wolfe's The Shadow of the Torturer
    Gene Wolfe's The Shadow of the Torturer
  • The Memoirs of Madame de La Tour du Pin
    The Memoirs of Madame de La Tour du Pin
  • Margaret Irwin’s Elizabeth novels
    Margaret Irwin’s Elizabeth novels
  • Pratchett on bigotry
    Pratchett on bigotry
  • Nicola Griffith's dances with martial art: the Aud Torvingen novels
    Nicola Griffith's dances with martial art: the Aud Torvingen novels
  • Sex in space: Naomi Mitchison's Memoirs of a Spacewoman
    Sex in space: Naomi Mitchison's Memoirs of a Spacewoman
  • Neil Gaiman’s The Sleeper and the Spindle
    Neil Gaiman’s The Sleeper and the Spindle
  • Re-reading Susan Cooper's The Dark Is Rising
    Re-reading Susan Cooper's The Dark Is Rising
  • Bryher (the writer, not the island)
    Bryher (the writer, not the island)
  • I Have Doubts
    I Have Doubts

this is what I write about

1920s 1930s 1950s 1960s aliens Angela Thirkell archaeology architecture Barbara Pym biography birds Cambridge detection Dornford Yates Dorothy Richardson drinking duds family life fantasy farming feminism fiction First World War France gender Germany Harry Potter H G Wells history Ireland Japan John Buchan John Lehmann journalism King Arthur literary history London magic memoir middlebrow murder music myth Naomi Mitchison nature newspapers Paris Penguin New Writing poetry politics post-war poverty publishing Rivers of London romance satire science science fiction Scotland Second World War servants small-town America space opera Sylvia Townsend Warner Terry Pratchett translation travel village life Vulpes Libris Wales wartime witchcraft witches women's history women's lives

Follow me on Twitter

My Tweets
Create a free website or blog at WordPress.com.
Kate Macdonald
Blog at WordPress.com.
Privacy & Cookies: This site uses cookies. By continuing to use this website, you agree to their use.
To find out more, including how to control cookies, see here: Cookie Policy
  • Follow Following
    • Kate Macdonald
    • Join 426 other followers
    • Already have a WordPress.com account? Log in now.
    • Kate Macdonald
    • Customize
    • Follow Following
    • Sign up
    • Log in
    • Report this content
    • View site in Reader
    • Manage subscriptions
    • Collapse this bar
 

Loading Comments...