Do not under any circumstances start reading The Woman in White by Wilkie Collins unless you have nothing else to do, because once you pick it up your week will be shot. This book was originally released in serial format and was a huge sensation and by golly it’s still pretty hair-raising now. The Woman in White has been called one of the first mystery novels as well as one of the first Victorian sensation … Continue reading The Woman in White by Wilkie Collins →
So there’s a little movie coming out this month. You probably haven’t heard about it because the publicity has been REALLY low-key. The live action Beauty and the Beast? Ring a bell? No? It’s okay – we’ll be covering it, don’t you worry. As has been mentioned, Beauty and the Beast is my favorite fairytale. It works so well as a Romance archetypical story, so I was VERY excited at this offering. Penguin has a … Continue reading Beauty and the Beast: Classic Tales About Animal Brides and Grooms from Around the World, edited by Maria Tatar →
I’m going to pay Lady Audley’s Secret the highest compliment I can pay a sensation novel: I kept finding great passages to bookmark but I didn’t bookmark them because I didn’t want to stop reading long enough to do so. That made for a great reading experience but it will make for a superficial review considering all the meaty stuff in this book that we could happily analyze for days if I had just slowed … Continue reading Lady Audley’s Secret by Mary Elizabeth Braddon →
D.E. Stevenson was a prolific and beloved writer who lived from 1892 – 1973, though her first book was published in 1923. She wrote character-centered books like the Mrs. Tim series – a series that I have read dozens of times in a state of hypnotized bliss despite the fact that nothing much happens in it. She also wrote more dramatic romances and mysteries, such as Smoldering Fire and The Young Clementina. If there’s one … Continue reading Miss Buncle’s Book by D.E. Stevenson →
Victorian Ghost Stories by Eminent Women Writers is an anthology that contains twenty-one stories of crypts, brain fevers, meditations on the meaning of God, enormous crumbling houses, obsessive artists, creepy children, and moors. So, you know, pretty much everything I cherish in life. While most of the stories were published firmly within the Victorian Era, a few were published just before or just after it. As is, unfortunately, often the case with older books, I … Continue reading Victorian Ghost Stories By Eminent Women Writers: Edited by Richard Dalby →
NB: Welcome to Flashback Friday! We’re re-running this awesome guest squee of The Ghost and Mrs. Muir as a palate cleanser for those who aren’t fans psychological thriller movies like The Girl on the Train. It’s also a pretty fitting movie to watch in October. This post was originally published August 17, 2015. SB Sarah: Kay Layton Sisk emailed me about her love of The Ghost and Mrs. Muir, and since I didn’t know much about it at all, I asked … Continue reading Guest Squee: The Ghost and Mrs. Muir – The Movie, the Book, and Me →
This summer I treated myself to re-read of A Room With A View, a book that gets better every time I read it. While Lucy Honeychurch is in a “muddle” for sure, she wants to do the right thing, and seeing her struggle to become her authentic self is thrilling. Plus, the book is hilarious in so many subtle ways that I keep finding new things to enjoy. A Room With a View was first … Continue reading A Room With a View by E.M. Forster →
Sarah: S&S time! HELLLOOOO scenery pr0n! Redheadedgirl: I used this as an excuse to buy the DVD. Because the fact that I don’t own it is a travesty. Carrie: One thing they added that isn’t in the book is the scene where they leave the big house and Elinor thanks the servants. I thought that was a good change – it spoke so much as to her character and it also helped solidify the idea … Continue reading Smart Bitches Movie Matinee: Sense & Sensibility →
Back when my mom was growing up and general practitioner doctors were the norm, people used to refer to having a family doctor. We don’t have a family doctor, but we do have a family author (as in, an author the family loves, not an author to whom we are related). All the women on my mom’s half of the family, and there are a ton of us, are obsessed with the writings of Nevil … Continue reading Pastoral by Nevil Shute →
After many years of reading Jane Eyre and Wuthering Heights, I finally got around to reading The Tenant of Wildfell Hall by Anne Brontë. While Jane Eyre (by Charlotte Brontë) and Wuthering Heights (by Emily Brontë) have remained popular through the years, Anne’s Agnes Grey and The Tenant of Wildfell Hall are rarely read now, even though they were the most popular of the Brontë books while the sisters were alive. This book can be read … Continue reading The Tenant of Wildfell Hall by Anne Brontë →
A Lady of Quality is a romance by Frances Hodgson Burnett, first published in 1896. If the name rings a bell, it’s because Burnett also wrote Little Lord Fauntleroy, A Little Princess, and The Secret Garden. Today Burnett is remembered for her children’s books, but she also wrote a lot of romantic novels for adults, one of which is A Lady of Quality. It features melodrama – so much melodrama. People just don’t make melodrama … Continue reading A Lady of Quality by Frances Hodgon Burnett →
