Earlier this month I was invited by Trevor of the Mookse and the Gripes to be a guest on Episode 6 of his (and his brother Brian’s) monthly podcast. The book under discussion: The NYRB Classics edition of The Sun King by Nancy Mitford. To begin with – I am fascinated by the Mitfords. Something you may have caught on to if you listened in … Continue reading The Sun King by Nancy Mitford (audio, narrated by Charlton Griffin)
If there’s one thing you walk away with after reading Antonia Fraser’s memoir Must You Go, My Life with Harold Pinter, it’s that she and her second husband Harold Pinter were deeply in love. Reading a memoir that doesn’t focus exclusively on tribulations its author has overcome is refreshing. Remarkable, even. Fraser has chosen to share what appears to be the happiest period of her … Continue reading Must You Go, My Life with Harold Pinter by Antonia Fraser (audiobook)
HHhH is the 2010 Prix Goncourt du Premier Roman award winning novel which tells the story of Operation Anthropoid: the secret WWII mission to assassinate SS-Obergruppenführer Reinhard Tristan Eugen Heydrich. Heydrich was Nazi Germany’s golden child. Chief among his many accomplishments was the development “the final solution to the Jewish question” – which he helped conceive and present to Nazi leaders at the infamous Wannsee … Continue reading HHhH by Laurent Binet (translated from the French by Sam Taylor, audio narrated by John Lee)
It may seem redundant to post a review after taking part in The Readers Summer Book Club discussion of Half-Blood Blues, but I decided to do just that. Mainly to share my *spoiler free* thoughts on Esi Edugyan’s novel with readers who still haven’t read the book and needed a bit of a nudge. If you enjoy history and are looking for a good … Continue reading Half-Blood Blues by Esi Edugyan (Audio)
Was my rave review of Hilary Mantel’s Wolf Hall sequel enough to pique you interest? Or, interest piqued, could you possibly be on a book-buying-ban, attempting to make a dent in that teetering TBR stack on the bedside table? Maybe you never finished Wolf Hall (which, by the way, isn’t necessary to enjoy the sequel). Or do you think historical fiction just isn’t your thing? … Continue reading Simon Vance reads Brings Up the Bodies
READER AT LARGE 