Title: A Very Irish Christmas Writer: Various Publishing House: New Vessel Press Date of Publication: September 14th 2021 Rating: 5 stars ‘’ “But me,” was all that she said, and rubbed a dear space in the condensation on the glass as she tried to recompose in her head the dissonant notes that rose at intervals…
Month: December 2021
Christmas Stories
Title: Christmas Stories Writer: Various edited by Diana Secker Tesdell Publishing House: Everyman’s Library Date of Publication: October 30th 2007 Rating: 5 stars ‘’The last day before Christmas had passed. A wintry, clear night came. The stars peeped out. The crescent moon rose majestically in the sky to give light to good people and all…
The Magic Toyshop
Title:The Magic Toyshop Writer: Angela Carter Publishing House: Virago Date of Publication: May 3rd 2018 (first published 1967) Rating: 5 stars ‘’Melanie had never seen uncle Philip. Once, when she was a little girl, he sent her a jack-in-the-box. He was a toymaker. When she opened the jack-in-the-box, a grotesque caricature of her own face…
Christmas Is Coming: Traditions from Around the World
Title: Christmas Is Coming: Traditions from Around the World (original title: dą święta! O Bożym Narodzeniu, Mikołaju i tradycjach świątecznych na świecie) Writer: Monika Utnik-Strugala, illustrated by Ewa Poklewska-Koziello Publishing House: NorthSouth Books Date of Publication: September 14th 2021 (first published 2019) Rating: 5 stars ‘’Can you imagine the winter without Christmas?It’s one of the…
Mr Salary
Title: Mr Salary Writer: Sally Rooney Publishing House: Faber & Faber Date of Publication: February 3rd 2019 (first published April 26th 2016) Rating: 5 stars ‘’It was in my nature to absorb large volumes of information during times of distress, like I could master the distress through intellectual dominance.’’ A young woman returns to Dublin…
Sunless Solstice: Strange Christmas Tales for the Longest Nights
Title: Sunless Solstice: Strange Christmas Tales for the Longest Nights Writer: Various (edited by Lucy Evans and Tanya Kirk) Publishing House: British Library Publishing Date of Publication: October 21st 2021 Rating: 5 stars ‘’Like any other boy I expected ghost stories at Christmas, that was the time for them. What I had not expected, and…
Yule: Rituals, Recipes & Lore for the Winter Solstice
Title: Yule: Rituals, Recipes & Lore for the Winter Solstice Writer: Susan Pesznecker Publishing House: by Llewellyn Publications Date of Publication: October 1st 2015 Rating: 5 stars ‘’It’s the time when Mother Earth goes quiet, yet if we listen really carefully, we can still hear her heart beating. It’s a profound and important time to…
Celtic Tales
Τitle: Celtic Tales Writer: Text adaptation by Mirabelle Korn, illustrated by Kate Forrester Publishing House: Chronicle Books Date of Publication: August 30th 2016 Rating: 5 stars ‘’Do not think the fairies are always little.Everything is capricious about them, even their size…Their chief occupations are feasting, fighting, and makinglove, and playing the most beautiful music.’’William Butler…
Murder’s a Swine
Title: Murder’s A Swine: A Second World War Mystery Writer: Nap Lombard Publishing House: British Library Crime Classics Date of Publication: December 7th 2021 (first published 1943) Rating: 5 stars ‘’[…] but as Germany is unfortunately the enemy of our country, she must needs, however regrettable this may seem, be our enemy also. After the war…
Castaways
Title: Castaways (original title: Náufragos) Writer: Laura Pérez, Pablo Monforte (translated by Silvia Perea Labayen) Publishing House: Dark Horse Books Date of Publication: February 1st 2022 (first published November 2016) Rating: 5 stars ‘’They were coming at me in waves. First, innocent memories, dreams, struggles, my own vacillating present, and then, sharp joys, sorrows, despair, a significant…
Light Rains Sometimes Fall
Title: Light Rains Sometimes Fall Writer: Lev Parikian Publishing House: Elliott & Thompson Date of Publication: September 16th 2021 Rating: 5 stars ‘’Look beyond and there is a gentle rise, streets populated with lines of houses, a repeating tessellation of London brick. On a good day, with the sun slanting on them from a certain…
London Stories
Title: London Stories Writer: Various (edited by Jerry White) Publishing House: Everyman’s Pocket Classics Date of Publication: May 6th 2014 (first published March 27th 2013) Rating: 5 stars ‘’Only at sunset did I leave the house. There was an unwonted sweetness in the air; the long vistas of newly lit lamps made a golden glow…
The Progress of a Crime
Title: The Progress of a Crime Writer: Julian Symons Publishing House: British Library Crime Classics Date of Publication: September 10th 2020 (first published 1960) Rating: 5 stars ‘’They went out into the streets of the city where it seemed always to be raining, the soft rain of autumn that made the few cars now moving…
The Opinionated Reader 