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Kate Macdonald

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Tag: Ireland

My gifts to the Oxfam bookshop

The Mere Wife, by Maria Dahvana Headley I didn’t finish this. I got to the bit where the character in the Hrothgar role got killed, and the character in the Beowulf role is in a car with the character in the Wealtheow role, considering kissing her. I did not want to read on because the … Continue reading My gifts to the Oxfam bookshop →

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Kate 21stC, biography, essays, fantasy, Helen Cullen, Lauren Elkin, letters, Maria Dahvana Headley, memoirs / diaries, Molly Keane, political / social commentary, Sally Phipps, the Beowulf poet, the life of the times, the world of work, travelogue 3 Comments January 9, 2019

Oh My God, What a Complete Aisling

Shall I count the ways in which I love this novel? It's a joy to read, easy and deep and delightful. It made me cry. I bought it on holiday and I loved it. It's snort-out-loud funny. It's utterly fascinating if you're not 28 and not from Ireland, like discovering a world of linguistic delights. … Continue reading Oh My God, What a Complete Aisling →

Kate 21stC, bildungsroman, community life, drinking, Emer McLysaght, family saga, feminism, humour, nature, parody, passion and secrets, political / social commentary, Sarah Breen, sociology, the life of the times, the world of work 2 Comments September 17, 2018September 16, 2018

Now posting on Vulpes Libris: Frank O’Connor’s autobiographies

I posted a double review of Frank O'Connor's autobiographies over on Vulpes Libris: An Only Child, and My Father's Son. I learned a lot about Irish history, Irish literature, Irish convents and army pensions.

Kate 20thC, autobiography, community life, drinking, family saga, Frank O'Connor, history, literary history, memoirs / diaries, now posting on Vulpes Libris, passion and secrets, political / social commentary, the life of the times, theatreland, wartime Leave a comment May 29, 2017August 15, 2017

Ayisha Malik, The Other Half of Happiness

The continuing adventures of Sofia Khan have been much anticipated. I adored Malik’s first novel, Sofia Khan is Not Obliged, and its sequel begins very satisfyingly with the immortal words of ‘Reader, I married him’. This is of course the burning question at the end of Sofia Khan when she’s flying off to Karachi with … Continue reading Ayisha Malik, The Other Half of Happiness →

Kate 21stC, Ayisha Malik, community life, family saga, humour, letters, passion and secrets, political / social commentary, publishing, the life of the times, the world of work Leave a comment March 9, 2017August 17, 2017

Now posting on Vulpes Libris: Colm Tóibín’s Brooklyn

Over on Vulpes Libris I've posted a review of Colm Tóibín's Brooklyn. I really liked it, but I wasn't quite convinced by how he covered the intimately feminine aspects of Éilis's experiences. Tóibín is very good on sea-bathing sex and shaving for bathing-suits, but he says nothing about menstrual blood or the fretting about white skirts that was … Continue reading Now posting on Vulpes Libris: Colm Tóibín’s Brooklyn →

Kate 21stC, bildungsroman, Colm Tóibín, Dorothy Canfield Fisher, fashion history, historical romance, now posting on Vulpes Libris, passion and secrets, political / social commentary, the life of the times, the world of work Leave a comment May 4, 2016
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Recent Posts

  • Achachlacher, by Emma L Menzies
  • Three good books
  • My gifts to the Oxfam bookshop
  • A Natural History of the Hedgerow, and ditches, dykes and dry stone walls
  • Canadian sff: Sleeping Giants, and Bloody Rose
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Top Posts & Pages

  • Josephine Tey's Miss Pym Disposes
    Josephine Tey's Miss Pym Disposes
  • The biography of Tove Jansson: Life, Art, Words
    The biography of Tove Jansson: Life, Art, Words
  • Ben Aaronovitch, Lies Sleeping
    Ben Aaronovitch, Lies Sleeping
  • Vern Sneider and The Tea-House of the August Moon
    Vern Sneider and The Tea-House of the August Moon
  • George Orwell's The Road to Wigan Pier
    George Orwell's The Road to Wigan Pier
  • It’s Not You, It’s Me: More Reading Disappointments
    It’s Not You, It’s Me: More Reading Disappointments
  • Erskine Childers' The Riddle of the Sands
    Erskine Childers' The Riddle of the Sands
  • Sax Rohmer's The Mystery of Fu-Manchu
    Sax Rohmer's The Mystery of Fu-Manchu
  • My books
    My books
  • Magnificently diabolical sexual politics in Jane Austen's Lady Susan
    Magnificently diabolical sexual politics in Jane Austen's Lady Susan

this is what I write about

1920s 1930s 1950s 1960s aliens Angela Thirkell art biography birds class detection Dornford Yates Dorothy Richardson drinking E F Benson family life fantasy farming fashion fast cars feminism First World War France Germany Harry Potter H G Wells history Home Front immigration Ireland John Buchan John Lehmann journalism King Arthur London magic Mapp and Lucia melodrama memoir middlebrow Modesty Blaise murder music newspapers New York opera Paris Penguin New Writing poetry politics post-war poverty publishing Rivers of London romance satire science science fiction Scotland Second World War small-town America space opera Suffragettes survival swords Terry Pratchett thriller translation travel village life Vulpes Libris Wales wartime witchcraft witches

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