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Kate Macdonald

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Category: oneupmanship

Harold Nicolson, Public Faces

Serendipity strikes again. I've been editing a book Handheld will be publishing in September 2023, about Hilda Matheson, who was among many other things a lover of Vita Sackville-West, and the Director of Talks for the BBC from 1926 to 1931, for whom Vita and Harold Nicolson, her husband, did online live broadcasts. BBC Director-General … Continue reading Harold Nicolson, Public Faces →

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Kate 20thC, H G Wells, Harold Nicolson, humour, oneupmanship, passion and secrets, political / social commentary, science fiction, technology, the life of the times, the world of work, thriller, Vita Sackville-West 3 Comments February 19, 2023

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

Barbara Pym, An Unsuitable Attachment

An Unsuitable Attachment is Barbara Pym's seventh novel. She sent it to her usual publisher, Jonathan Cape, in February 1963, and to her embarrassment and distress they rejected it, and her, as being too behind the times, no longer likely to sell. Her confidant Philip Larkin was as annoyed as she was, but she wouldn't … Continue reading Barbara Pym, An Unsuitable Attachment →

Kate 20thC, Barbara Pym, community life, humour, middlebrow, middlebrow studies, oneupmanship, political / social commentary, sociology, terribly refined, the life of the times, the world of work 4 Comments March 4, 2019February 28, 2019

Arnold Bennett, Imperial Palace

Was this the original baggy monster of a novel? It's huge, and quite baggy, and has no place on my shelves now that I've read it, because its vastness is not matched by re-readability. However, some parts are very good indeed, so it's a patchy reading experience. I found myself skipping the rather tedious romance … Continue reading Arnold Bennett, Imperial Palace →

Kate 20thC, Arnold Bennett, community life, middlebrow studies, oneupmanship, passion and secrets, political / social commentary, terribly refined, the life of the times, the world of work 1 Comment June 13, 2018

Ann Leckie’s Provenance

Ann Leckie’s new novel, following the triumphant success of her multiple award-winning novels Ancillary Justice, Ancillary Sword and Ancillary Mercy, is Provenance, and it is not at the same level. Her invention and world-building are still top quality, but the plot of Provenance sags, and the characters feel like marionettes, moving without feeling. Yet I read to … Continue reading Ann Leckie’s Provenance →

Kate 21stC, Ann Leckie, Elizabeth Moon, oneupmanship, political / social commentary, science fiction, space opera, technology, travelogue 1 Comment March 20, 2018

Edith Morley’s Before and After. Reminiscences of a Working Life

This is a memoir by the first female professor in the UK, Edith Morley, Professor of English Language at the University of Reading. It’s an essential read for anyone exploring the history of women’s higher education in Britain, and for those keen on reliving the struggles of women to make headway in a profession that … Continue reading Edith Morley’s Before and After. Reminiscences of a Working Life →

Kate 19thC, 20thC, Dorothy Richardson, Edith Morley, Edwardian, fashion history, feminism, history, literary history, memoirs / diaries, middlebrow studies, oneupmanship, political / social commentary, the life of the times, the world of work, wartime 1 Comment October 2, 2017September 30, 2017

Penguin New Writing 35: The sound of idols smashing

John Lehmann begins this issue by announcing that he’s dropping my favourite part of the magazine, The Living Moment. The reason for what he rightly calls this ‘freakish editorial decision’ is that the articles suitable for this section —commissioned reportage of changing post-war life — are getting scarce. However, despite this annoying beginning, I think … Continue reading Penguin New Writing 35: The sound of idols smashing →

Kate 20thC, Alan Pryce-Jones, community life, John Craxton, John Lehmann, John W Aldridge, L A G Strong, Leonard Rosoman, literary history, Mervyn Jones-Evans, oneupmanship, political / social commentary, short stories, T C Worsley 12 Comments August 21, 2017November 14, 2017

Fantasies of the undefeated South: Owen Wister’s Lady Baltimore

Lady Baltimore, by Owen Wister, is an extraordinary novel. It wasn’t written as a historical novel, but it certainly is one now: a 1905 depiction of the American South at the turn of the twentieth century, on how life would have been so much better if the South hadn’t lost the Civil War. I had to … Continue reading Fantasies of the undefeated South: Owen Wister’s Lady Baltimore →

Kate 20thC, Adam Nicolson, community life, Edith Wharton, family saga, historical romance, Jane Austen, Mark Twain, oneupmanship, Owen Wister, passion and secrets, political / social commentary, the life of the times, Why I Really Like This Book 6 Comments May 15, 2017August 18, 2022

Arnold Bennett builds a theatre: The Regent

A highly satisfying novel of wish fulfillment bounds onto your screen in this Really Like This Book podcast scripts catch-up. In Arnold Bennett’s The Regent (1913), a wealthy provincial magnate builds a London theatre by whose success he confounds the city folk who know better than he does. There are no agonies and no tense little scenes … Continue reading Arnold Bennett builds a theatre: The Regent →

Kate Arnold Bennett, Edwardian, humour, oneupmanship, political / social commentary, the life of the times, the world of work, theatreland, Why I Really Like This Book 5 Comments March 13, 2017August 17, 2017

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