Biographies and non fiction are always such an interesting genre for me. It must be such a challenge trying to research a person or subject so famous or well known and still be able to bring something ‘new’ to the table. Not to mention write a book that doesn’t read like a boring history timeline with a bunch of dates and milestones in a person’s life.
So I am always intrigued when non fiction and/or biographies come across my nightstand for review, if the person or subject interests me I usually give it a go. Wilkie Collins has been a very interesting literary figure for me since I read Drood by Dan Simmons a few years ago. While I didn’t really like the book itself that well…..the character Wilkie Collins appealed to me so much that I read his novel The Woman in White a short time later.
I have yet to read his magnum opus, The Moonstone, but I have it and am waiting for the perfect stormy fall night to start it. Something about Collins says ‘dark and stormy night’ to me. I don’t know much about Collins’s life or literary career besides these two popular books…..Collins often get’s obscured by Charles Dickens as they are both writers of the same period. So when this biography came across my nightstand for review, I did not hesitate to agree….the English Literature major in me was crying out to learn more about this often skipped over author!
Continue reading “Review: Wilkie Collins: A Brief Life by Peter Ackroyd”
This novel is so much more than simply a historical fiction novel. This novel was also an wonderful piece of literary fiction, with hints of romance and a story about the bonds of friendship all set in an exotic location.
Maggie Hope has just landed state side after being in England for quite some time. She has come with Prime Minister Churchill and the rest of his cabinet to meet with President Roosevelt weeks after the attack on Pearl Harbor.
Four sisters all sharing one king….really?! How does that happen? Well that’s exactly what I wanted to know and that’s why I picked up THE SISTERS OF VERSAILLES. King Louis XV tends to get skipped over in popular literature because there are just so many other King Louis’ that are way more memorable than him….but come on? Four sisters and you make them all your mistress? That sounds like memorable to me!
Mary Shelley was the daughter of the iconic feminist Mary Wollstonecraft and her husband William Godwin. She has not had a normal childhood….she’s been exposed to all kinds of brilliant literary and philosophical figures.
The Lit Bitch 