What is history? Lest anyone think the question meaningless or superfluous, I will take as my text two passages relating respectively to the first and second incarnations of the Cambridge Modern History. Why did I choose to reread a history text book from my first year at uni for the 1961 Club? Good question. I've … Continue reading What is History? | E. H. Carr
If you think that poultry lead boring, monotonous lives, entirely focused on their eventual ascension to the platter, surrounded by potatoes and spinach, and seasoned with dill - you'd be wrong. And so begins my journey into 1961 in literature. Life and Love in the Hen House (Stosunki w kurniku) by Irena Krzywicka (1899 - … Continue reading Life and Love in the Henhouse | Irena Krzywicka
When my daughters turned twelve I initiated them into the mysterious powers. I confess that I have no idea what I've just read or why it has been shortlisted for this year's International Booker Prize. The Witch by Marie NDiaye completely bamboozled me. So I will start with the facts as I know them. NDiaye … Continue reading The Witch | Marie NDiaye
All happy families are alike; each unhappy family is unhappy in its own way. We are fast approaching the halfway mark of our chapter-a-day (re)read of Anna Karenina and I wanted to honour the occasion with a post. I first read AK in the early 2000's but other than the ending, or at least Anna's … Continue reading Anna Karenina | Leo Tolstoy
This is the last day of the life I imagined for myself. I woke up two minutes before my alarm went off, like usual. Five fifty eight and bing: eyes wide open, ready to greet the day. I've never had a hard time waking up in the morning. Never used the snooze button, either, not … Continue reading Yesteryear | Caro Claire Burke
Since moving to the Blue Mountains, I have been delighted to discover just how many little street libraries exist in my village AND how well read my neighbours are! The fifteen or so libraries I have discovered so far certainly have their fair share of dross at times, but generally speaking they offer up many … Continue reading Little Street Libraries
© Brona’s Books 2026 | Wild Meadow Gardens, Little Hartley It has been a wet month in the Blue Mountains. Only thirteen days when I didn't empty something out of the rain gauge. It was also the month that Australia hosted the Women's Asian Cup. Which means we had two weekends away from home to attend games … Continue reading Book Diary | March 2026
You know the song, but you can’t place it. Maybe it’s because you’re inside of a baseball stadium. It isn’t a setting in which you often think about music. Or maybe it’s because the melody in question is being played by an organist, or because it’s hot and you’re in direct sun. It is weird. … Continue reading Violent Femmes | Nic Brown
A green and yellow parrot, which hung in a cage outside the door, kept repeating over and over: 'Allez vous-en! Allez vous-en! Sapristi! That's all right!' For my birthday earlier this year I treated myself to four more of the Penguin Little Clothbound Classics. The latest CC spin had just been spun bringing me Kate … Continue reading The Awakening | Kate Chopin
I sit awhile some evenings by my mother-in-law's bed, and I watch her sleep. Triona doesn't know I come here to the hospice on my own. It's on my way home from the sites in Limerick, though, and I can't pass without tipping in for a few minutes just. I had planned on finishing my … Continue reading Heart, Be At Peace | Donal Ryan
The orchard, vibrantly green and with adobe walls, backed up against the village at one end and bordered the river at the other. It was an orchard mostly of sweet and sour cherries. The villa, a mixture of rustic and urban architecture, sat in the middle of it. Thanks to NetGalley, Women Without Men by … Continue reading Women Without Men | Shahrnush Parsipur
My father still lives back the road past the weir in the cottage I was reared in. I go there every day to see is he dead and every day he lets me down. He hasn’t yet missed a day of letting me down. He smiles at me; that terrible smile. He knows I’m coming … Continue reading The Spinning Heart | Donal Ryan
...this book attempts not just to catalogue the Seven Wonders, but to comprehend them, to appreciate them as they were first experienced and remembered; to ask why things in general, and these in particular, are wonderful, why they are worthy of wondering. As chance would have it, one in-between-series night in February, I was scrolling … Continue reading The Seven Wonders of the Ancient World | Bettany Hughes
An enemy of baked goods of all kinds, Tolstoy was not one of those insufferable people who breeze through life unencumbered by frustration and anger. Comfortingly enough, he was a person who struggled to understand why, at times, life felt intensely painful, even when nothing that bad was happening. The Anna Karenina Fix: Life Lessons … Continue reading The Anna Karenina Fix: Life Lessons from Russian Literature | Viv Groskop
I have been very slowly making my way through this delightful BBC radio collection featuring the works of Dylan Thomas. Some of the recordings feature Thomas himself, but many have been turned into radio or audio plays by Matthew Rhys, a Welsh actor who introduces this collection as well as providing interesting commentary on each … Continue reading The BBC Radio Collection | Dylan Thomas
