Category Archives: books
2025 Book Report
The approaching end of the calendar year led me to compose my fourth annual book report. I read 30 books this year, the total reduced a bit by my autumn and winter walks having been impeded by lousy weather on … Continue reading
A Quixotic Baptist
In 1930, Thornton Wilder jotted down, “Ideas for Novels or Novellas — Picaresque: Baptist ‘Don Quixote.’ Selling educational textbooks through Texas, Oklahoma.” The result was his 1934 comic novel Heaven’s My Destination. He began serious work on it at the … Continue reading
The Dutch House
After J.L. Carr’s short and moving novella A Month in the Country, I remained in the mood for something of “quality” to read. Don’t get the wrong impression; I have always enjoyed genre books, being an avid consumer of mysteries … Continue reading
Mary Stewart’s First Novel
Mary Stewart was a lecturer in English at Durham University when she wrote her first book in the 1950s. She was prompted to finally take the leap and write a book after an ectopic pregnancy nearly killed her and led … Continue reading
A Month in the Country
Elegiac, a term I associate with high school literature classes, came to mind as I was reading the beautiful A Month in the Country, a novella by English author J.L. Carr which was published in 1980. Carr, like many authors, … Continue reading
Meador Manor 