Tag Archives: classics

Death on the Cherwell by Mavis Doriel Hay

Posted on April 2, 2018 by forwardtranslations

For Miss Cordell, principal of Persephone College, there are two great evils to be feared: unladylike behaviour among her students, and bad publicity for the college. So her prim and cosy world is turned upside down when a secret society … Continue reading →

Posted in Books, Reading, Reviews | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 3 Comments

Post-Referendum Reading – Vigilante

Posted on August 3, 2016 by forwardtranslations

I haven’t been reading much lately, or it’s been taking me much longer to get through books than usual. There are all sorts of reasons for this, to do with family life, too much time on social media or playing … Continue reading →

Posted in Books, Reading, Reviews, Translation | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Very Subtly Worded Indeed

Posted on June 4, 2015 by forwardtranslations

In her day, Teffi was a literary superstar, writes Anne-Marie Jackson in her introduction to Subtly Worded, a beautiful collection of short stories, published last year by Pushkin Press. It’s easy to see why, because these are witty, yet thought-provoking … Continue reading →

Posted in Books, Reading, Reviews, Translation | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 3 Comments

The Past Is a Foreign Country, or Musings on Paddington Bear

Posted on August 20, 2014 by forwardtranslations

We’ve been working through quite a few of Michael Bond’s Paddington Bear stories with fils aîné recently and I’m frequently amazed by how dated they are, in the most literal sense. I don’t mean that they don’t stand the test … Continue reading →

Posted in Books, Children's Books, Reading | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

The Foundling Boy

Posted on July 28, 2014 by forwardtranslations

The Foundling Boy by Michel Déon is a modern classic of French literature published in France as Le Jeunne homme vert by Gallimard in 1975 but only recently finding its way into English. Déon is an immortel (a member of … Continue reading →

Posted in Books, Reading, Reviews, Translation | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Rediscovering Little House on the Prairie

Posted on July 4, 2014 by forwardtranslations

One advantage of the football World Cup has been having a lot more time for reading undistracted by the television. It enabled me to get through a fantastically good doorstop of a German book for New Books in German – … Continue reading →

Posted in Books, Children's Books, Reading, Reviews | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Not a Word out of Place – Raymond Chandler’s The Big Sleep

Posted on February 24, 2014 by forwardtranslations

After Snow White Must Die – another book where I was itching to get out my red pencil – I discovered that it was the 70th anniversary of the creation of Raymond Chandler’s iconic private detective Philip Marlowe. I’d been … Continue reading →

Posted in Books, Reading, Reviews | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Grimm Tales for Young and Old – Philip Pullman

Posted on January 24, 2014 by forwardtranslations

So, I keep saying that I’ll get back to blogging, and I keep not. If you’re hanging in there, thank you! Life has been unsettling lately, and since Christmas, work has been busy too – I’m not complaining, mark you! … Continue reading →

Posted in Books, Children's Books, Reading, Reviews, Translation | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Alfie’s Christmas by Shirley Hughes

Posted on December 20, 2013 by forwardtranslations

Sorry, yet again, for the long silence. Again you can blame Michael Gove. And the general insanity of the last few weeks of term. Still, we won a copy of Alfie’s Christmas by Shirley Hughes (Bodley Head Children’s, 2013) from … Continue reading →

Posted in Books, Children's Books, Reading, Reviews | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Careless People by Sarah Churchwell

Posted on November 8, 2013 by forwardtranslations

The first time I read The Great Gatsby, a few years ago now, I didn’t get it. I couldn’t see what all the fuss was about although I found the book entertaining enough. In other words, I fell into the … Continue reading →

Posted in Books, Reading, Reviews | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment