Because of its Christmas “meet cute” and other pivotal scenes that take place at Christmas, I consider the groundbreaking classic The Price of Salt (also published as Carol) to be a holiday book, although much of it takes place at other times in the year. With that in mind, December is the perfect time to read this short novel about two women who meet during the Christmas season in New York City and who find … Continue reading The Price of Salt by Patricia Highsmith →
Where should I start with this movie, you guys? Should I start with the acting? The costuming? The structure? The subversion of romance? The female rage? Single moments of brilliance? The warmth and love and humor? The personal note that after I read Little Women as a child I called my own mom “Marmee” for a year which suggests that I am not an impartial viewer? This movie is remarkable. Little Women is the story … Continue reading Movie Review: Little Women (2019) →
Somehow I’ve managed to exist this far into life without having seen or read The Enchanted April. Finally I have gotten to the book and it is indeed delightful, although reading it immediately after finishing Gideon the Ninth was perhaps not the best choice (tonal whiplash!). This slow paced, lyrical novel is about friendships between women and the joy of literally having a room of one’s own, if only for a month. The Enchanted April, … Continue reading The Enchanted April by Elizabeth Von Arnim →
In Jane Austen’s Northanger Abbey, the heroine is mesmerized by the scandalous gothic novel, The Mysteries of Udolpho. Readers, I read that novel. My paperback Oxford World’s Classics edition (1998) of The Mysteries of Udolpho is 679 pages long, not counting introduction and notes. That’s a lot of mysteries. I read this so you don’t have to. SPOILERS AHEAD. The Mysteries of Udolpho was a huge hit for author Ann Radcliffe when it first came out in … Continue reading The Mysteries of Udolpho by Ann Radcliffe →
Claudine at School is a book from 1900 about Claudine, a fifteen-year-old girl living in rural France, and her time at school. That’s it. It’s told in first-person, as diary entries. There’s no plot at all, although there’s suspense about final exams and constant gossip about who is having a relationship with whom. The book is funny and charming but not the kind of book in which very much happens. You could boil this review … Continue reading Claudine at School by Colette →
Miss Miles was written in 1890, and it describes the lives of four women in Yorkshire. Sarah Miles is a working-class young woman who wants to become a “lady” even though she doesn’t fully understand what being a lady means. Amelia is a lady, or the closest thing the area has to one, and she is driven to despair because her family will not let her do any kind of work. Dora and Maria are … Continue reading Miss Miles by Mary Taylor →
Villette is such a frustrating book. It’s a book that makes you work hard, and it’s a book that refuses to reward either the reader or the character with a happy ending. It took me two weeks to read through Villette, and I was irritated for every minute of it. However, by the end of the book I felt a weird compulsion to immediately read it again. Villette is a puzzle. An annoying and sometimes … Continue reading Villette by Charlotte Brontë →
Squee from the Keeper Shelf is a feature wherein we share why we love the books we love, specifically the stories which are permanent residents of our Keeper shelves. Despite flaws, despite changes in age and perspective, despite the passage of time, we love particular books beyond reason, and the only thing better than re-reading them is telling other people about them. At length. If you’d like to submit your reasons for loving and keeping … Continue reading Keeper Shelf: Daddy-Long-Legs by Jean Webster →
This summer we are graced with a movie version of My Cousin Rachel, which delights me no end. The question is, what version of the story will we see? It would be completely possible to make multiple different versions of this story, all faithful to the original book, and yet all very different, because this is a story about how the stories we tell ourselves and the characters we create take over our heads and … Continue reading My Cousin Rachel by Daphne du Maurier →
This guest review on The Blue Castle is from Erin M. Erin M is a high school English teacher living in Oklahoma City, and she writes romance as Laine Ferndale with her amazing writing partner. Her first book, The Scandalous Mrs. Wilson, is published by Crimson Romance: it’s set in turn-of-the-century Canada and the hero shares a last name with Valancy. Good artists borrow, great artists steal, right? On that note, please don’t rat her … Continue reading Guest Squee: The Blue Castle by L.M. Montgomery →
I’ve read So Big (first published in 1924) by Edna Ferber many times since I was a little girl. It is one of several classic books that shaped my idea of what being an admirable woman would involve: an appreciation of beauty, a love of learning, enthusiasm, a capacity for love, an ability to work very hard, and, above all, resilience. In So Big, Ferber creates a wonderful character in her protagonist, Selina, and uses … Continue reading So Big by Edna Ferber →
