And also the first one where we’re both in our 30s, guys. Tea or Books? #18: titles: fancy or simple? and Hercule Poirot vs Miss MarpleĪgatha Christie and curious titles come together in perhaps my favourite episode of the podcast yet. It is somehow both riotous and thoughtful, borrowing from the modernists without losing its popular touch. Has this 1930 novel stood the test of time? Short answer: absolutely. Indeed, The Edwardians – now republished alongside All Passion Spent by Vintage, both with Gosia Herba’s striking cover designs – was such a phenomenal seller that it helped keep Virginia and Leonard Woolf’s publishing house, Hogarth Press, afloat. While Vita Sackville-West is today best remembered as having (probably) been the lover of Virginia Woolf, and as the mind behind the garden at Sissinghurst, she was also a novelist of repute during her life. And while you’re there, check out Five Fascinating Facts about VSW.

The more I read by her, the more I think her social history has unjustly overshadowed her writing – and The Edwardians was her bestseller. Including this Shiny New Books link to an excellent novel by Vita Sackville-West. Writing with one hand at the moment, for various boring health reasons, which is why you’re likely to get a few short posts from me for the time being. It may be how I discovered her as a novelist, but they are very different entities. Fisher in her persona as Ophelia Dagger on YouTube, but she would be the first to disavow the title of Vlogger Novelist. Well, it’s true that I first came across C.J. The 20-something year old with a camera and a cheery smile has been unleashed on an unsuspecting audience of people with preteen children, and Zoella is just the most famous of a gathering mass. Full review here.Īnybody who keeps an eye on book news, or the stands in WH Smith at Christmastime, will probably have observed the sensation of the YouTube Book.

It’s a bit unusual for me, being a new book by a vlogger – but not one who is keen to publicise the relationship between YouTube and book, refreshingly. I still have plenty of reviews and whatnot to come, but for today – since the next issue of Shiny New Books is coming up this week – I thought I’d link to my final review from Issue 9.

Praise be, my RSI seems to have died down! I can use both hands again! Thanks for thoughts and support – it’s been a bit of a rubbish fortnight or so, and the underlying issue will still need to be dealt with, but at least I’m back typing.

When We Were Alive by C.J. Fisher