Title: The TrialAuthor: Franz KafkaTranslator: Idris Parry Publisher: Penguin (Modern Classics)Date: 2015 (1925)Genre: Philosophical FictionSummary: A terrifying psychological trip into the life of one Joseph K., an ordinary man who wakes up one day to find himself accused of a crime he did not commit, a crime whose nature is never revealed to him. Once arrested, he… Continue reading Book Review: The Trial by Franz Kafka
Title: The Garden Party and Other StoriesAuthor: Katherine MansfieldPublisher: Penguin English LibraryDate: 2002 (1922)Genre: Realism / Short storiesSummary: ‘They could not have had a more perfect day for a garden-party if they had ordered it.’ A windless, warm day greets the Sheridan family on the day of their garden party. As daughter Laura takes the reins… Continue reading Book Review: The Garden Party by Katherine Mansfield
Title: Moll FlandersAuthor: Daniel DefoePublisher: Oxford University PressDate: 2011 (1722)Genre: Picaresque novelSummary: A tour-de-force of writing by Daniel Defoe, this extraordinary novel tells the vivid and racy tale of a woman’s experience in the seamy side of life in late seventeenth- and early eighteenth-century England and America. Born in Newgate prison, and seduced in the home… Continue reading Book Review: Moll Flanders by Daniel Defoe
Title: On the Soul and Other Pyschological WorksAuthor: AristotleTranslator: Fred D. Miller JrPublisher: Oxford University PressDate: 2018 (c.350 BC)Genre: Non-fiction / Philosophy Summary: What is the nature of the soul? It is this question that Aristotle sought to answer in De Anima (On the Soul). In doing so he offers a psychological theory that encompasses… Continue reading Book Review: On the Soul and Other Psychological Works by Aristotle
Title: Lady Audley’s SecretAuthor: Mary Elizabeth BraddonPublisher: PenguinDate: 2019 (1862)Genre: Sensation novel / MysterySummary: In this outlandish, outrageous triumph of Scandal fiction, a new Lady Audley arrives at the manor: young, beautiful – and very mysterious. Why does she behave so strangely? What, exactly, is the dark secret this seductive outsider carries with her? I read… Continue reading Book Review: Lady Audley’s Secret by Mary Elizabeth Braddon
Title: Pride and PrejudiceAuthor: Jane AustenPublisher: Vintage ClassicsDate: 2007 (1813)Genre: Fiction Summary: Elizabeth Bennett is young, clever, and attractive, but she and her four sisters are in dire need of financial security in the shape of husbands. The arrival of the pleasant nice Mr. Bingley and the obscenely arrogant Mr. Darcy in the neighborhood turns… Continue reading Book Review: Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen
Title: London Labour and the London PoorAuthor: Henry MayhewPublisher: Oxford University PressDate: 2012 (1861)Genre: Non-Fiction / JournalismSummary: By turns alarming, touching, and funny, the pages of London Labour and the London Poor exposed a previously hidden world. Henry Mayhew conducted hundreds of interviews that provided a first-hand account of costermongers and street-sellers, of sewer-scavengers and chimney-sweeps,… Continue reading Book Review: London Labour and the London Poor by Henry Mayhew
Title: Frenchman’s CreekAuthor: Daphne du MaurierPublisher: Virago Modern ClassicsDate: 2015 (1941)Genre: Historical Fiction / ClassicsSummary: Lady Dona St Columb seems to revel in scandal; she is involved in every intrigue of the Restoration Court. But secretly, the shallowness of Court life disgusts her, and in her heart she longs for freedom and honest love. Retreating to Navron, her… Continue reading Book Review: Frenchman’s Creek by Daphne du Maurier
Title: Heptaméron Author: Marguerite de Navarre Translator: Paul A. Chilton Publisher: Penguin Classics Date: 1984 (1549) This review is not a typical review! Firstly, I’m going to write a little bit about Marguerite de Navarre before moving on to the Heptaméron itself. In the final section of this post, I’ll be looking at the book… Continue reading The Heptaméron by Marguerite de Navarre – Mini Review and Discussion
Title: The Diary of Lady MurasakiAuthor: Murasaki ShikibuTranslator: Richard BowringPublisher: Penguin ClassicsDate: 2005 (1010)Genre: Non-fiction / ClassicsSummary: The Diary recorded by Lady Murasaki (c. 973 – c. 1020), author of The Tale of Genji, is an intimate picture of her life as tutor and companion to the young Empress Shoshi. Told in a series of vignettes,… Continue reading Book Review: The Diary of Lady Murasaki by Murasaki Shikibu
warm days will never cease 