Rereading Middlemarch, Twenty Years Later
The first time I read it I was rooting for Dorothea. This time I found myself quietly on the side of Mr. Farebrother.
Reviews, reading lists and the occasional essay about books old and new.
What I Read This Summer
Eleven books, two abandoned, one that I immediately pressed on everyone I know.
Review: Stoner by John Williams
A novel about an ordinary life that somehow makes ordinary feel like the bravest word in the language.
On Keeping a Reading Journal
Not reviews, not ratings, just a notebook. Six years in, here's what I've learned from writing a few lines about every book.
Six Short Novels for a Rainy Weekend
All under two hundred pages, all finishable between Friday dinner and Sunday tea.
Why I Stopped Using Star Ratings
A three-star book I still think about every week, and a five-star book I can't remember at all.
Review: The Remains of the Day
A butler, a road trip and a lifetime of things left unsaid.
Persuasion Is an Autumn Book
Austen's last finished novel is about second chances, and it reads best when the leaves are turning.