Category Archives: Bookish History

Ernest Hemingway – Idol & Action Figure

Posted on July 1, 2011 by

The 2nd of July marks fifty years since Ernest Heminway, on a quiet Sunday morning, killed himself. It was shocking punctuation to a life lived like a challenge – full of wars, hunting, contentious marriages, travel, love, bravery, deception and … Continue reading →

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Bloomsday – reprise

Posted on June 20, 2011 by

The physical and virtual world lit up for Bloomsday – tweets and Guinness and peripatetic homages flooded the day of those with a Joycean bent. The twitter feed @11lysses creatively recast the novel in a series of tweets from contributors … Continue reading →

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Bloomsday 2011

Posted on June 15, 2011 by

Bloomsday, celebrated annually on June 16th, is a huge act of devotion to James Joyce’s novel, Ulysses, as well as the Dublin peregrinations of its main character, Leopold Bloom. The date corresponds with the events in that most classic of … Continue reading →

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Judging a Book by its Cover

Posted on September 12, 2010 by

And why the hell not. Usually used as a cautionary moral, don’t judge a book by its cover, has always rankled a little. For many years I harboured a secret guilt that I did just that, judging by veneer, only … Continue reading →

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Editing Enid

Posted on July 28, 2010 by

Hodder, the UK publisher of Enid Blyton’s work, has decided they are going to “sensitively and carefully” revise the text of her books. They’re starting with 10 of the Famous Five novels. Mercy me, or rather, as the new text … Continue reading →

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Ulysses vs. Apple… well, almost.

Posted on June 17, 2010 by

Bloomsday is an annual day of celebration in Dublin that commemorates the life of James Joyce. Participants relive the events of Leopold Bloom’s odyssey around Dublin over the course of a day. Bloom is the protagonist in Joyce’s most famous … Continue reading →

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Teen Sleuth Nancy Drew Turns 80

Posted on June 8, 2010 by

The teenage detective, who encouraged more than one generation of girls to look to themselves and their natural abilities to accomplish what they wanted, has turned 80. Girl power, indeed; I’d back Nancy over the Spice Girls any day of … Continue reading →

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