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nted that much attention and it felt rather as if hussey was trying to reinterpret what woolf was doing with her to avert criticism of the author s snobbery however those are really minor quibbles and hussey has done a marvellous job exploring mrs dalloway and her world although i know a lot about woolf and the book i still found much food for thought here particularly in the discussions of the context surrounding the writing of it and the world of the time these sections were really illuminating the book is a joy to read and of course has had me wanting to go back to reading woolf again however when checking i realised that i have re read all of woolf s novels but one during the time of the blog so i may have to do something about that soon happy dalloway day share this share on x opens in new window x share on facebook opens in new window facebook share on tumblr opens in new window tumblr share on bluesky opens in new window bluesky like loading gritty stories in a harsh landscape over shinynewbooks june 11 2026 kaggsysbookishramblings uncategorized denis johnson jesus son shiny new books 8 comments i mentioned in my post on denis johnson s train dreams that i had also read his collection jesus son for shiny new books and that review is up today this was the book which really catapulted johnson into the public eye and it s a dark captivating collection of stories from the underbelly of life it made for compelling reading and my review is here share this share on x opens in new window x share on facebook opens in new window facebook share on tumblr opens in new window tumblr share on bluesky opens in new window bluesky like loading celebrating the centenary of a beat poet allenginsberg 20bos26 book 1 june 10 2026 kaggsysbookishramblings uncategorized allen ginsberg beat generation 22 comments although i revisited one of allen ginsberg s seminal poetry collections earlier in the year for our 1961 club reading week i had somehow missed that 2026 is the centenary of his birth however a good number of social media posts alerted me recently to the fact that his 100 year celebration was on 3rd june and so i decided i must mark the day by reading some of his work fortunately i remembered that i had picked up a slim anthology of his poetry issued as one of the penguin archive volumes and it turned out to be the perfect book to celebrate ginsberg s centenary sunflower sutra takes its title from one of the poems included and it contains a range of work from across ginsberg s life and work the first verse from 1949 is paterson the final poem after lalon 1992 is from the end of ginsberg s time he died in 1997 and it s fascinating to watch his work evolve as he ages this little volume is a wonderful introduction to ginsberg s writing as it features most of the elements you would expect from him earthy poetry about love and sex protest verse attacking the conservative nature of america poignant memories of his past and friends and reflections on nature and the world i was expecting to mostly read free verse or prose poetry but was surprised to encounter some very powerful rhyming works in fact the poem that i think hit me most was in that format september on jessore road i had to look this one up as i hadn t come across it before and it was written as a response to the east bengali refugee crisis of 1971 which ginsberg actually witnessed that one will stay with me what s the work to ease the pain of living everything else drunken dumbshow other memorable poems touched on ginsberg s relationship with his beat friends for example many loves from 1956 explores his relationship with jack kerouac s muse neal cassady it s a wonderful mixture of earthy and tender highlighting how much ginsberg felt for the man the title poem evokes a memory of a walk with kerouac where they encounter a ragged sunflower which provokes a profound reaction from the poet and in memory gardens written shortly after kerouac died in 1969 ginsberg contemplates his lost friend in poignant terms both of these were really affecting as well as the changes personally the poems also reflect what was happening in the world around ginsberg and the later poems musing on ageing and the decline of the body were ones with which i could definitely identify sunflower is an excellent collection which really does give a flavour of what you can expect if you explore ginsberg s writing further it doesn t by necessity include his two major works howl and kaddish as they would take up a whole book on their own it s proof however that that ginsberg s shorter works could be just as powerful and effective and it s left me very tempted to find out if there s a collection of his complete poems belated happy 100th birthday allen ginsberg share this share on x opens in new window x share on facebook opens in new window facebook share on tumblr opens in new window tumblr share on bluesky opens in new window bluesky like loading some fun with early detective stories rivalsofsherlockholmes pickupapageturner june 8 2026 kaggsysbookishramblings uncategorized baroness emmuska orczy the rivals of sherlock holmes 24 comments books continue to lead to other books my reading of peter ackroyd s london under was inspired by nicholas royle s finders keepers and there s a bit of a story attached to today s book in ackroyd s chapters about the london underground system he discussed a number of murder mysteries set there and one of these was a story by baroness orczy the mysterious death on the underground railway now i enjoyed orczy s lady molly stories so i was keen to read this one a bit of digging revealed it had been included in an anthology from the early 1970s the rivals of sherlock holmes and i knew that i had owned a copy at one point the question as always was is it still in the house and if so where i felt i had seen it relatively recently and so that limited the options i rooted around in one of the tbr rooms and ended up having a major reshuffle which incidentally caused me to revise the immediate pile of potential reads eventually i started to dig around in the donation boxes and lo and behold i found rivals in one of these which was a relief as i m such a fan of ga crime anthologies i figured that this would be a fun read too which it was the rivals of sherlock holmes is subtitled early detective stories and the book was edited by hugh greene an alumnus of the bbc the stories here pre date the ga era being set in victorian and edwardian london and there were other collections following this as well as a tv show featuring one hour adaptations of some of the stories i vaguely remember these being on tv when i was little but i suspect i was too young to watch them there are thirteen stories here from ten different authors and the range and type of mystery is varied interestingly some of the protagonists of these tales fall more into the raffles mould rather than holmes and it s fascinating to observe the different focus of the authors they are for reference max pemberton arthur morrison guy boothby clifford ashdown l t meade and robert eustace william le queux baroness orczy r austin freeman william hope hodgson ernest bramah of these names i would suspect that orczy bramah and freeman are the authors still best remembered but all of the stories are enjoyable reads there are plots involving stolen jewels absconding bank clerks and quacks with rejuvenating potions this kind of story definitely fits into the holmesian mould although there are others that lean towards modernity the affair of the avalanche bicycle and tyre co ltd by arthur morrison for example is an entertaining story which deals with the craze for cycling and industrial rivalry it s an inventive mystery and also captures the changing world very well madame sara by l t meade and robert eustace has a clever murder method although i m please to say i worked out what it was spies and international tensions features in the secret of the fox hunter by william le queux and the submarine boat by clifford ashdown one particular story the horse of the invisible by william hope hodgson is a chilling tale in which a family legend appears to be threatening the life of a young woman the detective explains most of the events although some are left in doubt and bramah s the game played in the dark features his blind detective max carrados cleverly handling a tense situation and defeating some terrible rogues as for the orczy stories one of these i d already read as it featured in the renard press lady molly collection which i enjoyed hugely the other the underground railway story was a really clever and twisty mystery in which a woman is murdered on a tube train but no one can have done it here her serial detective the old man in the corner sees through all the subterfuge and comes up with the perfect solution which i never would have worked out i have to be honest and say there was one story which really did take the wind out of my sails and that was the moabite cypher by r austin freeman featuring his serial detective dr thorndyke a breathtakingly racist characterisation made me pause and reflect how not only was this not acceptable then but would be unlikely to be reprinted now the mystery itself involves something coded in a kind of semitic writing and so you can see where i m going with this although i can usually make allowances for old books reflecting their times i was really uncomfortable with the language here moving on aside from this issue i thoroughly enjoyed reading these older mysteries although a lot of the names seem to have slipped into obscurity nowadays i d be keen to read more of their stories and this may end up with me trying to search out other rivals volumes vintage crime short stories do make for wonderful reading and are often the perfect palate cleanser before moving on to longer works so i m very glad the ackroyd nudged me towards this one i discovered after reading this one that june has been designated national crime reading month by the crime writers association the reading agency which of course ties in beautifully with this book you can find out more about the event here share this share on x opens in new window x share on facebook opens in new window facebook share on tumblr opens in new window tumblr share on bluesky opens in new window bluesky like loading it s lister who decides nottodisturb murielspark june 5 2026 kaggsysbookishramblings uncategorized muriel spark not to disturb 36 comments over the years i ve read a lot of muriel spark s novels mostly pre blog although some have appeared here on the ramblings however i m aware that there are still a good number of her titles i ve not read and recently an instagram reel on the subject of scottish gothic books sent me off in the direction of a novella of hers first published in 1971 not to disturb what the reel said about it made it sound irresistible so once more a reasonably price copy arrived at the ramblings just as i d finished another book and jumped straight into my hands the book is set in a mansion in geneva in the midst of a raging storm inside the staff are gathered awaiting the arrival of the owners baron and baroness klopstock as well as one of their secretaries victor passerat led by the butler lister they seem to be in a state of suspense with their conversations implying that that a tragedy is about to take place in fact lister constantly talks as if it already has the baron and baroness eventually arrive separately and all three characters lock themselves in the library with instructions to lister that they are not to be disturbed as the storm continues around the house the servants wait for the inevitable to happen but how can they be so sure about the outcome of events with royalty of course it all is largely a matter of stage production and lighting royalty are very careful about their setting and their lighting as is the pope this being a muriel spark book we are obviously in strange territory from the start lister for example insists on referring to the three victims in the past tense even whilst they re still alive the conversation is elliptical allusive and suggests rather than stating outright the characters often talk in near riddles leaving the reader to work out what has been happening the implication is that passerat has been in a sexual relationship with both the baron and baroness and in the little we see of him directly he certainly appears to be a flamboyant character there is an additional complication in the form of him in the attic an obviously mad family member who will become important to the plot as the story develops there is a local vicar two of passerat s friends who are hanging around the house and the couple manning the porter s lodge the house staff are an intriguing bunch as well as lister who seems to be in control of events there is heloise the pregnant maid eleanor who is lister s aunt despite being younger than him pablo the handyman who may be the father of heloise s child and clovis the chef it becomes clear that money is the motivation for whatever action is taking place and when you build in some unexplained characters who appear to be reporters of a kind it s clear that the servants plan to profit from the events of the night as with all of spark s novels there s so much going on under the surface she is of course playing with detective novel tropes from the stormy weather to the class differences to the big house there are many elements which would turn up in any ga crime novel however spark always twists things and i ve seen this book compared to ivy compton burnett as so much of it is told via dialogue which is really interesting there s also another unusual slant with the madman in the attic a play on the jane eyre wide sargasso sea madwoman so all in all there s a lot to digest here and it s also very funny in places if occasionally a little opaque plot wise i think there could be many different interpretations of what s actually going on not to disturb is therefore a short sharp and entertaining novel which pricks many of the pretensions of more serious fiction but much as i enjoyed it i wouldn t say i would put it up there with spark s best it followed the driver s seat which had appeared a year before and i think that novel was more inventive and effective nevertheless what i might regard as minor spark is still streets ahead of many other writers and so i m glad i read this one i m also thankful i still have many of her books left unread share this share on x opens in new window x share on facebook opens in new window facebook share on tumblr opens in new window tumblr share on bluesky opens in new window bluesky like loading older entries content copyright 2012 2021 kaggsy s bookish ramblings unless otherwise stated all rights reserved search search top posts pages a few further thoughts relating to mrs dalloway dallowayday 20bos26 book 6 the world is like a 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