Last summer Jason and I got drawn into the world of Laurie R. King’s Sherlock Holmes/Mary Russell novels, most of which I read on our trip to England (although King is an American writer. It just seemed appropriate to be reading about Sherlock Holmes in England). King’s latest novel draws upon her Holmesian writings, but [...]
The Gun Seller is a book I probably wouldn’t have picked up if I weren’t so over-the-top in love with Hugh Laurie. Even then, I might not have picked it up, because the idea of a novel written by an actor does kind of have that ring of, “Well, I’m famous so I might as well [...]
When I’ve already reviewed a book, I don’t usually review its sequel as well. In this case I am doing that, because although I enjoyed Paris to the Moon, I really loved Through the Children’s Gate, the follow-up memoir about the Gopnik family’s return to New York with two young children after five years in [...]
Helen Porter is a writer about whom I can’t even pretend to be unbiased, since I count her as one of my literary and life mentors. I couldn’t say anything bad about her: if I hadn’t thoroughly enjoyed her book, I just wouldn’t have reviewed it. But I did enjoy it, so here I am [...]
For a long time now I’ve been hearing British Christians rave about how much they enjoy the work of Adrian Plass, best known for his semi-autobiographical, semi-fictional humourous works such as The Sacred Diary of Adrian Plass, Aged 37 1/2 . The first book of his I’ve actually had the chance to pick up is [...]
Lady Jane Grey is possibly the most tragic teenager of the Tudor era (though her cousin King Edward VI might contest that title, as might Katherine Howard). I first was introduced to her story (on an emotional level — I’m sure I’d heard the facts before) through the movie Lady Jane. Now noted popular historian Alison [...]
