Walk down the streets of Concord, Massachusetts and in every corner, there is a story about the history of the United States. One of America’s oldest cities is getting new attention with the retelling of a beloved novel that is nearly as synonymous with a New England Christmas as Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol is with the holiday season in London. Locals will tell you that Little Women was not […]
Victor Hugo elected after four previous failed attempts to the Academie Francaise on this day in 1841.
Sorry for the lack of posts. Ugh, I hate it when people write that but it’s been a busy year. But we’re back. Have a blogging schedule and expect posts soon from Cairo, North Carolina and Wales
1787: On this day, Anne Elliot, second daughter of the vain and imperious Sir Walter and his wife Lady Elizabeth, was born in Kellynch Hall, Somersetshire. While her fictional counterpart Elizabeth Bennett is considered Jane Austen’s most famous creation, Anne Elliot has her many fans, including me, who found her a more realistic character and the one, in my opinion, who was the most credible and likeable. 1842: After being […]
Want to go to the Summer Olympics in London but wary of hotel prices? There’s still rooms to be had but prices are going up and even cabinet ministers like Bev Oda may find costs a little steep. The Cadogan Hotel in London which celebrates its 125th anniversary this year has availability still for the Games. Oscar Wilde stayed in room 118 when he was arrested in 1895 and charged […]
Reading for the first time Trouble with Lichen by John Wyndham for the inaugural meeting of the A.C.I.B.C. (Hello, N.!) and struck once again by how good good science fiction writing can be with universal truths taken so matter-of-factly. One of literature’s greats, not just in science fiction, died this morning. Ray Bradbury, born in Waukegan, Ill. but a Los Angeles resident since he was 13, is most famously known […]
During an assignment to the Czech Republic last year, one of the highlights was a visit to Brno, the second largest city in the country behind Prague. Brno is low on most people’s radar but has a special literary connection. It is the birthplace of Milan Kundera, the Czech novelist who has lived in exile in France since the mid-1970s. Kundera’s books were banned pre-Velvet Revolution of 1989 and his […]
When the Queen celebrated the Diamond Jubilee this past weekend, she became England’s second-longest serving monarch at six decades on the throne with only her great-great-grandmother Queen Victoria having served longer at 63 years as queen. During her reign, Queen Elizabeth has outlasted 12 prime ministers, six Roman Catholic Popes and two daughter-in-laws (Diana and Fergie). She has distributed about 90,000 Christmas puddings to staff and made 96 state visits […]
Georgia author Carson McCullers has her debut novel The Heart is a Lonely Hunter published on this day in 1940. She is just 23 years old when this critically acclaimed debut brings her international recognition, propelling to the forefront of Southern writers. The struggles of deaf mute John Singer is at the centre of the universe in this novel. Mick Kelly, the character McCullers makes her surrogate, is a young […]
These are excerpts from the Big Honey Dog blog – by Honey the Great Dane, who recounts what her humans did when they went on a Big Flying Machine and flew to visit the faraway place called France. These are their adventures in the French capital… . . . ****** . Before my humans, Hsin-Yi & Paul, went to France, they would sometimes meet French people who would tell them […]
