This much-loved English novel from Rumer Godden is reminiscent of The Secret Garden, telling a fairy tale-esque story about neighborhood children and a mysterious garden in post-WWII London. An emergency meeting of the Mortimer Square Garden Committee has been convened to discuss a most alarming matter: someone has been digging ... more >
I can’t recall what prompted me to buy this book, but I think at the time I acquired it I was aware that it was the basis of Hitchcock’s “The Lady Vanishes”, which I’ve seen parts of on cable over the years. However, I then didn’t read it for several ... more >
First published as The Wheel Spins in 1936 and adapted for the screen by Alfred Hitchcock in 1938, Ethel Lina White’s The Lady Vanishes established the author as one of the greatest crime writers of the Golden Age. After a summer holiday in a remote corner of Europe, the glamorous ... more >
Romola by George Eliot This is one of the last George Eliot books I had unread. I’ll confess that early on I thought about dumping it, but I persevered. As a book written in the 19th century about the 15th century and centered quite a lot on philosophy and the ... more >
After I finished Little Women, a book it somehow took me five months to read, I wanted to read something a bit lighter, quicker, and funny. Applying my self-created rules for classic literature reads, “lighter, quick and funny” don’t abound. The vast majority of classics that I read are 18th ... more >
Little Women by Louisa May Alcott Is it a shameful to admit that I’ve never before read Little Women? At least not that I can recall – it may have been one of those books that I started and put down in my youth. Still, I’ve seen both of the ... more >