Hazel Wood

This edition, which I became really keen to get my hands on when I saw the lineup of books covered in the synopsis turned out to be a real treat and one of my favourite issues thus far. Definitely a keeper I will return to for a spot of comfort reading.

There's 'Anarchist in a Tie' by Michael Barber, an article about the books of Eric Ambler, whom I discovered in the past couple of years thanks to The Folio Society with The Mask of Dimitrios and then several audiobooks like The Light of Day and Epitaph for a Spy (both highly recommended). Of course the article only makes me want to finally pick up my Folio Dimitrios and several other audiobooks and keep going with Ambler.

A discovery: The Education of H*y*m*a*nK*a*p*l*a*n, out of print but surely obtainable via Abe, a hilarious sounding book from 1937 about the travails of a Jewish immigrant who seems determined to remain impervious to his English teacher, the long-suffering Mr Parkhill's lesson's: 'How much will cost refrigimator?' writes Mr Kaplan in a business letter assignment which he has chosen to address to his uncle Hymie. 'Is axspensif, maybe by you is more cheap a little. But must not have short circus. If your eye falls on a bargain please pick it up.'

'A Very Rising Man' by Roger Hudson, which finally got me truly interested in reading The Complete Diary of Samuel Pepys, which may be a lifetime project considering it is 11 volumes in length in the unexpurgated version. Roger Hudson, according to his brief bio, worked for many years at John Murray, the firm that had the chance of publishing Pepys in the 1820s but turned it down.

'Divine Spark' by Emma Hogan is about one of my great favourites, Dame Muriel Spark and covers her brilliant Memento Mori which I believe I am due to reread as well as her Curriculum Vitae, which I haven't yet had the pleasure of discovering—what joy awaits!

Who doesn't love 84 Charing Cross Road? Maggie Fergusson tells us how she discovered that book in 'We All Love Your Letters...' and now I feel sure a book could be written about how various writers came to discover that particular epistolary jewel.

'Plain Jane? Plain Wrong' by Daisy Hay is about another reader favourite, Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice, in which she tries to explain why contrary to Mark Twain and Charlotte Brontë, she thinks it is the perfect English novel.… (mehr)

Nobody ever said a subscription to The Real Reader's Quarterly was cheap. The price of the publication plus shipping to Canada is £52 (about $80 US dollars). That's not so bad, being a known quantity. The unknown quantity is the amount you'll then end up spending when you read all the fantastic reviews contained in each of the four yearly issues on often out of print books and series, which you'll then feel you cannot possibly live without, even though you've likely never heard of the titles or authors before. In some cases, you'll on the contrary already own several editions of a given book, but then feel compelled to order a special limited edition published by their own Slightly Foxed imprint, if you're anything like me, but more on that coming shortly.

This issue contained, as they all tend to do, a good mix of old favourites and complete unknowns. Among the favourites were Truman Capote's Breakfast at Tiffany's, which I read several years ago and recently acquired as a gorgeous Folio Society edition, and also as an audiobook narrated by Michael C. Hall of Six Feet Under and Dexter fame when it went on sale. What can't be overstated is the charm of the articles/reviews contained in each issue, where authors are encouraged to talk about their favourite books which are picked for their sentimental or literary worth as opposed to their value on the marketplace or jury list placements. Of books I already own and was compelled to purchase again , there was also an article about My Family and Other Animals, which Slightly Foxed has just published as an addition to their growing collection of biographies in small clothbound editions, this one being a personal all-time favourite by natural history writer Gerald Durrell, and one I couldn't resist getting, even though the £19 price tag with shipping to Canada was a bit of a splurge.

New-to-me discoveries included E. M. Forster's Two Cheers for Democracy, which only served to remind me that I already have no less than four of his books on the tbr still waiting for me to discover this amazing author, and it might be a good idea to start where he began in 1905 with Where Angels Fear to Tread. An article on Elizabeth Grant's Memoirs of a Highland Lady has me growing my wishlist, but then what else is new? That one should make for an interesting treasure hunt if I insist on getting a lovely reading copy, otherwise there's always a kindle edition. Another big splurge thanks to an article on L. P. Hartley's Eustace and Hilda trilogy, this time available through NYRB, and while I was at it, why not get The Go-Between as well, right? since that one is also on the Guardian 1000 as well as the 1001 Books You Must Read Before You Die—all four 2006/2008/2010/2012 editions, no less!

There's a third and last article of a trilogy on Patrick O'Brian's twenty naval novels, starting with Master and Commander, which I'll have to try my hand at again, and I think I'll need to get my hands on Patrick O'Brian's Navy: The Illustrated Companion to Jack Aubrey's World to help me with all the navy lingo. The little sample I did try on audio as narrated by Patrick Tull (which was highly recommended by Suzanne) was lots of fun, but I did get lost among the topsails and forecastles and various types of canon charges, so a little help, even if it means a small additional investment will be needed.

An article near the end, on Rex Stout's Fer-de-Lance has me convinced my life as a reader will never be complete without adding Nero Wolfe to my repertory. And that's just scratching the surface, as there are several articles I'm skipping over. I can't afford keeping up my subscription to SF. But then I can't afford not to. And besides, what else could approach such perfection for bathroom reading material?… (mehr)

I've collected quite a few back-issues of this little quarterly which I subscribe to, just so I'll always have one on hand between the new releases, because I enjoy the articles on often (but not always) out of print books, the small format on lovely cream paper, and the small woodcuts so much. Favourites in this issue were articles on Graham Greene's [Stamboul Train], one of his 'entertainments', which he wrote when he was in need of money and was intended as a commercial book with film potential. Its great appeal, it seems, lies in its characters, and in Green's refusal to give the reader the ending he or she might expect, which was his way of not 'selling out' completely.

A pleasant surprise was an article on L'Abbé François Prévost's Manon Lescaut (1731), a book which, until last summer had only been known to me for it's title as an opera, but which I discovered and quite fell in love with when it was featured in a Coursera online course called "The Fiction of Relationship". What I found interesting is that the book itself was originally written by a Benedictine monk, and it was ostensibly intended to condemn too much emphasis on passionate love and lack of moderation, though of course those are the very things that make the story such great reading even today. As an added twist, the article was also written by a Catholic priest, though there is not the slightest soupçon of condemnation or disapproval, even when reading between the lines.

Some of my all-time favourite books are featured, such as Rogue Male, one of the great spy/survival books of all time which I discovered this year and intend to reread more than once, as well all Chinua Achebe's Things Fall Apart. Among the riches also, an article on the books of Barry Unsworth who won the Booker Prize with Sacred Hunger in 1992 (which tied with The English Patient that year). Though I've had his travel memoir Crete on the tbr for several years, I discovered Unsworth last year with his excellent Morality Play (highly recommended), and have since acquired several of his novels. He was a first-class historical fiction writer, and reading about him in one of my favourite bookish publications of course only served to strengthen my resolve to eventually read everything this author has published.… (mehr)