A comment from the lovely Kay on my post about Nella Last's Post War Diaries has made me realise that the final Nella Last book, based on her 1950s diaries, is now available. I had completely forgotten about this until now - that's what having a baby does for you! - so I'm rushing off to amazon to buy a copy: Nella Last in the 1950s: Further diaries of Housewife, 49. I'll let you know what it's like as soon as I can. (A complete aside - Amazon have very annoyingly changed how they do links to pictures of books making it so much harder for me to quickly include ... read more

Over the years I have read a large number of Anita Shreve's books and as far as I can remember I've enjoyed them all greatly. Strange Fits of Passion was no different in that sense. What was a bit different though was the style in which it was written. Rather than being a "straight story" instead the book is a collection of statements from the key people involved in the story and interview notes from the journalist who was writing about it. The final part of the book is then the final magazine article that came from all the statements and interviews. There are a few small ... read more

Apologies to all of you who are sick of Monica Dickens by now. I promise that this is my last book from her for a little* while. I think I started reading The Happy Prisoner years ago and judging by where I found a bookmark I must have reached page 82 and then given up. Absolutely no idea why though! After the slight disappointment of Scarred I am delighted that this was a return to form. The story is very much a fly on the wall of a house where a soldier son, Oliver, has returned home from the war having lost a leg and with a slightly dodgy heart. His sickroom becomes the hub of ... read more

The Monica Dickens reading marathon continued with something a bit different next. Scarred wasn't published until 1991, not long before her death in 1992. All the Monica Dickens books I have read previously were written and set in a much older age. A time when everything had a certain, often wartime, quaintness about it. Scarred has none of that though and as a result seems to be lacking a certain cosiness. Don't get me wrong, if you were reading this book without any previous expectations about Monica Dickens books then I'm sure you would enjoy it - it's well written with some ... read more

I think (touch wood) that we've finally beaten the stomach bug that has hit LMC and me recently. With both of us suffering and Mr C looking after us best he could it does mean I've been able to get back to reading much more than I had managed previously. As I did when waiting for LMC to arrive, I've retreated back into my Monica Dickens collection for comfort.  I started off with the lovely Joy and Josephine. Now I should say that this is a recent addition to the collection as it came to me in the form of a Christmas present from my MIL S. When I started the pre-LMC ... read more

I'm always looking for Ladybird books when in charity shops or secondhand bookshops. I love the old vintage ones with their matt covers and also try to pick up the modern versions for LMC. I was delighted therefore to find these four vintage ones in a charity shop in St Albans earlier this week.  The range of book subjects that Ladybird published completely fascinates me. Not only is there science, history and nature, but also a fantastic set of hobbies that 60s and 70s children supposedly partook in. The slight problem is that once you start reading up on a subject like ... read more

For a long while I have been fascinated by the role of the housewife over history. When my Nan died my mum came into possession of one of her books that completely fascinated me. The Housewife's Handy Book covers absolutely everything that you would need to be a housewife in the 1930s. I have seen (and own) several books telling housewives of the time all about the various crafts that they were expected to know - embroidery, mending, knitting, upholstery etc) but this is the first book I have seen that covers such a range of subjects.  The contents list is fascinating: Stitchcraft ... read more

Sometimes you just need a book that is an easy read. Sometimes you need a book to make you chuckle. Mrs Fry's Diary meets both those requirements and many more. If you haven't yet come across Edna Fry on Twitter then where have you been? Certainly after reading this watching QI will never be the same again! ... read more

It's strange how there are some names that you forget that you know. Until recently, Hannah Hauxwell fell into that category for me. As soon as I read in a discussion forum someone talking about how amazing this woman's life had been I instantly could put a face to the name. Yet I also realised that I knew far less about Hannah Hauxwell than I felt I should. Found in the seventies by the makers of a Yorkshire Television documentary it could so easily have been the case that people never found out about Hannah Hauxwell. In fact it was Hannah's solitary way of life that made her so ... read more