Notes From A Book Addict

Susannah Fullerton's monthly newsletter.
01 Jun 2017
Authors, Jane Austen, Newsletter 4 Comments Permalink
Charlie Lovett books by Susannah Fullerton
Charlie Lovett books by Susannah Fullerton

Charlie Lovett

1 June 2017 4 Comments
Charlie Lovett

Charlie Lovett

Have you come across an American novelist called Charlie Lovett? He’s a writer, teacher and playwright and his books have been on the New York Times bestseller list.

I really loved his mystery novel First Impressions about a girl called Sophie who works in the antiquarian book business and gets drawn into a mystery that connects her to Jane Austen and Pride and Prejudice. It was so cleverly written. I also loved The Lost Book of the Grail which is set in Barchester, a fictional county dreamed up by Anthony Trollope. Read more

01 Jun 2017
Authors, Books, Newsletter 2 Comments Permalink
All seven books in the Harry Potter series in order without their dust jackets.
All seven books in the Harry Potter series in order without their dust jackets.

Harry Potter Turns 20

1 June 2017 2 Comments
J.K. Rowling reads from Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone

J.K. Rowling reads from Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone

On 26 June 1997, a novel for children was published without any great fanfare. It was the first in a planned series of books featuring a boy with wizarding powers called Harry Potter. Ten years later the 7th book in the series was published and by that time there cannot have been many people in the world who had not heard of the boy, the books and the author, J.K. Rowling. Read more

01 Jun 2017
Authors, Newsletter 6 Comments Permalink
Alan Titchmarsh at the 2014 RHS Chelsea Flower Show
Alan Titchmarsh at the 2014 RHS Chelsea Flower Show

Alan Titchmarsh

1 June 2017 6 Comments
Alan Titchmarsh, England Our England

Alan Titchmarsh, England Our England

Alan Titchmarsh is best known as a gardener and TV presenter, and for being regularly voted one of the world’s sexiest men, but he is also a writer. He has written many gardening books, and some fiction. I enjoyed his light but rather charming novel Rosie (2004).

But my favourite of his productions is a CD, England, Our England. It’s a fabulous celebration of English traditions, landscape and weather, through the words of various writers. Read more

01 Jun 2017
Authors, Movies, Newsletter, Screen versions 2 Comments Permalink
Lobby card from the 1933 film Little Women starring Paul Lukas and Katharine Hepburn.
Lobby card from the 1933 film Little Women starring Paul Lukas and Katharine Hepburn.

Film Adaptations

1 June 2017 2 Comments
A Suitable Boy by Vikram Seth

A Suitable Boy by Vikram Seth

The BBC has recently announced that it will be adapting Vikram Seth’s monumental novel A Suitable Boy as an 8-part drama. It will be their first ever period drama featuring a totally non-white cast. The screenplay will be written by (who else?) Andrew Davies. Filming will start later this year. Read more

01 May 2017
Books, Newsletter, Reading 10 Comments Permalink
Muirs Bookshop in Gisborne, N.Z. (by kind permission of the owner, Kim)
Muirs Bookshop in Gisborne, N.Z. (by kind permission of the owner, Kim)

A Wall of Promise and Treasures

1 May 2017 10 Comments
“Where is human nature so weak as in the book store?” asked Henry Ward Beecher (preacher, religious writer and brother of Harriet Beecher Stowe). He’s quite right. No matter how strong the resolution not to buy more books until the pile by the bed is drastically reduced, somehow I find it very hard to leave a bookshop without making a purchase. Read more

01 May 2017
Newsletter, Poems, Poets 6 Comments Permalink
Solent Outdoor Beach Sea Resort Isle Of Wight
Solent Outdoor Beach Sea Resort Isle Of Wight

Alfred, Lord Tennyson & Crossing the Bar

1 May 2017 6 Comments
Crossing the Bar by Alfred Lord Tennyson

Alfred Lord Tennyson

Alfred Lord Tennyson portrait by P. Krämer

Sunset and evening star,
And one clear call for me!
And may there be no moaning of the bar,
When I put out to sea,

But such a tide as moving seems asleep,
Too full for sound and foam,
When that which drew from out the boundless deep
Turns again home.
Read more

01 May 2017
Authors, Books, Movies, Newsletter, Screen versions No Comments Permalink
Illustration from the book, The Moonstone, by Wilkie Collins
Illustration from the book, The Moonstone, by Wilkie Collins

Wilkie Collins

1 May 2017 No Comments
Have you ever read The Moonstone by Wilkie Collins? It is often regarded as the first detective novel in English, and it was published in 1868. The image above is an 1874 illustration from the book. There are several narrators of the plot, so you get many points of view and get to know some interesting characters. My favourite is the servant Gabriel Betteredge who adores Robinson Crusoe and re-reads it constantly. The novel was praised by Dorothy L. Sayers as “probably the very finest detective story ever written”. Read more

01 May 2017
Books, Newsletter, tours 4 Comments Permalink
Madresfield Court, by Philip Halling
Madresfield Court, by Philip Halling

English Literary Trail

1 May 2017 4 Comments

The Historic Houses Association in the UK has recently launched a new ‘Literary Trail‘. If you are lucky you can do it in person, visiting wonderful homes in Britain that have interesting literary connections, such as Madresfield, the home that inspired Waugh’s Brideshead, or Renishaw, home of the eccentric Sitwell family. Some are the homes of living authors, so you might even get a book signed, or be shown round by its author / owner; others belonged to authors long gone, but excellent guides will show you the property. You can find details at Historic Houses Association Literary Trail. Read more

29 Apr 2017
Jane Austen, Recommended Reading No Comments Permalink
Jane Austen, Susannah Fullerton
Jane Austen

Recommended Reading – Jane Austen

29 April 2017 No Comments

Susannah’s list of Top Books about Jane Austen

Susannah Fullerton is President of the Jane Austen Society of Australia and one of the foremost experts on her work. She provides the list below as a resource for those wishing to learn more about this remarkable writer.

On 18th July, 1817, Jane Austen died in the arms of her sister Cassandra. “I have lost such a treasure”, Cassandra wrote of her loss, “such a sister, such a friend as never can have been surpassed.” Cassandra had lost a sister and friend, but the world had lost its greatest novelist – far, far too early! Read more

25 Apr 2017
Authors, Poems, Poets No Comments Permalink
Lest We Forget - Anzac Day
Lest We Forget - Anzac Day

Lest We Forget

25 April 2017 No Comments
Portrait of Rudyard Kipling by John Collier image

Portrait of Rudyard Kipling by John Collier

“Lest we forget” are words strongly associated with Anzac Day. They come from the poem Recessional by Rudyard Kipling. The poem was written in 1897 for the occasion of Queen Victoria‘s Diamond Jubilee.

Kipling refused to accept any payment for the poem, as he was so keen to get its message across.
Read more

20 Apr 2017
Recommended Reading No Comments Permalink
There was an old woman who lived in a shoe
There Was an Old Woman Who Lived in a Shoe. Project Gutenberg’s Childhood’s Favorites and Fairy Stories, by Various.

Mothers in Literature – Recommended Reading

20 April 2017 No Comments

Suggested reading list for

MOTHERS IN LITERATURE — A reflection on fictional mothers

I love to recommend books that I’ve read and enjoyed, so here’s my list of great reading about mothers.

Some authors have written very memorably of their own mothers. J.M. Barrie published Margaret Ogilvy in 1896. His mother lost her eldest and favourite son, and poor James spent his life trying to make up for the lost boy who was his brother. Read more

01 Apr 2017
Books, Newsletter, Reading 12 Comments Permalink
Books Wanted for our Men
Books Wanted for our Men by Charles Buckles Falls (ca.1918).

WWI and Books

1 April 2017 12 Comments
100 years ago the world was at war. In April 1917 America declared war on Germany, the Battle of Vimy Ridge took place (many Canadians were killed there), and also the Battle of Chemin des Dames. In Russia the Tsar had just abdicated and the country was engulfed in revolution, Germany was being squeezed by the British naval blockade, while in the Middle East the Ottoman Empire was losing ground to British-led forces.

Read more