The Making of Home: The 500-Year Story of How Our Houses Became HomesJudith FlandersNon-fiction, paperback “…the woman’s ability to keep house became central: it reflected her value. It was no longer simply a matter of was the house adequately cleaned, scrubbed, polished? It was how the upkeep had been achieved, which measured not hygiene, but…
Tag: Historical fiction
What I read: February 2024
A Lady’s Guide to Fortune-HuntingSophie IrwinFiction, audiobook “They paused there for a beat, looking at each other with mutual calculation. It occurred to them both, then – though of course they did not know it – that they might equally have agreed to pistols at dawn.” Kitty Talbot has three months to catch a wealthy…
What I read: December 2023
The QuickLauren OwenFiction, hardback, library book “There were owls in the nursery when James was a boy.” When James Norbury moves to London after his graduation from Oxford, he tells his sister Charlotte that it’s with the intention of becoming a writer. Soon, however, he finds himself pulled away from his efforts by a charming…
What I read: October 2023
What Color is Your Parachute?Richard N. BollesNon-fiction, hardback, library book “Always define WHAT you want to do with your life and WHAT you have to offer to the world, in terms of your favorite talents/gifts/skills-not in terms of a job-title.” Finding a job is hard — finding yourself is even harder. First printed in 1970…
What I read: September 2023
ThistlefootGennaRose NethercottFiction, hardback “Yet suffering has a way of begging to be remembered. Sometimes, as a story. Sometimes, as a wraith.” Estranged siblings Bellatine and Isaac haven’t seen each other in years, and have only agreed to meet today to receive their shared inheritance. Inheriting a house isn’t that unusual; inheriting a sentient house that…