Author Archives: Dove

Thoughts: Where Poppies Blow, by John Lewis-Stempel

Posted on 26 September 2022 by Dove

The intersection between British (mostly) soldiers in World War I and nature seemed almost fanciful when I picked this one up. Like, there have been so many millions of words lavished on WWI from every possible angle, every conceivable breadth … Continue reading →

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Thoughts: Daughter of Empire, by Pamela Hicks

Posted on 22 September 2022 by Dove

I want to continue my little exploration of Indian independence, and I thought Pamela Hicks’s memoir would be a good next stop, Pamela Hicks being the daughter of Lord Mountbatten, the last Viceroy of India of whom Narendra Singh Sarila … Continue reading →

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Thoughts: Shadow of the Great Game: The Untold Story of India’s Partition, by Narendra Singh Sarila

Posted on 15 September 2022 by Dove

I love how every non-fiction book title is [Snappy Title]: [Cumbersome Thesis Statement So You Know What The Book Is Actually About]. Every single one. I can’t not notice it anymore. Anyway, I’ve by pure coincidence happened to read a … Continue reading →

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Thoughts: The Transit of Venus, by Shirley Hazzard

Posted on 14 September 2022 by Dove

Uh looks like I entirely forgot to post this after I wrote it? Here you go! Last book I started before giving birth, first book I finished afterwards. I read a couple of chapters to baby, in the hope that … Continue reading →

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Thoughts: The Mists of Avalon, by Marion Bradley

Posted on 10 September 2022 by Dove

Warning before we start – there’ll be mentions of real life crimes in this one, involving children. Some explanations are in order. I know we’re all meant to be living in a Death of the Author world but some things … Continue reading →

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Thoughts: Mothering Sunday, by Graham Swift

Posted on 29 August 2022 by Dove

I have my soft spots, like anyone, and one of my guiltiest ones is life in stately homes and fancy old estates, despite my dislike of the British class system. I also like quiet stories where not much happens, but … Continue reading →

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Thoughts: The Man Who Was Thursday, by G. K. Chesterton

Posted on 25 August 2022 by Dove

Another one off the backlog pile! Annoyingly it’s been so long since I read it that most of my very specific feelings have faded with time, but eh, we press on. Spoilers though. I deliberately didn’t read the Introduction till … Continue reading →

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Thought: June Fourth Elegies, by Liu Xiaobo (translated by Jeffrey Yang)

Posted on 23 August 2022 by Dove

More dissident poetry! It was a rough early June in 2017 when we lost Irina Ratushinskaya and Liu Xiaobo in quick succession. This one felt a little bit like the baddies won though, if I can use such simplistic/childish language. … Continue reading →

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Thoughts: Mind of the Raven, by Bernd Heinrich

Posted on 14 August 2022 by Dove

Slightly embarrassing admission, I picked this one up as story research (for a story that I haven’t finished or touched in a while – indeed, the same story I read Gifts of the Crow for – but still). The tempting … Continue reading →

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Thoughts: Grey is the Colour of Hope, by Irina Ratushinskaya, translated by Alonya Kojevnikov (with poems translated by David McDuff, Richard McKane and Helen Szamuely)

Posted on 12 August 2022 by Dove

Grey is the Colour of Hope is Irina Ratushinskaya’s prison memoir, written in 1987 after her release from the Small Zone in the Barashevo camp, but before the dissolution of the USSR. This gives it both a very particular angle … Continue reading →

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